Ehud Sprinzak

In the following viewpoint, Ehud Sprinzak contends that the threat of terrorist attacks using weapons of mass destruction has been overstated. He argues that, despite incidents such as the 1995 attack in a Tokyo subway station and the claims of government officials and politicians, conventional weapons such as car bombs continue to pose a greater danger than biological or chemical weapons. Sprinzak asserts that counterterrorism efforts need to focus on the real, not imagined, dangers. Sprinzak is a professor of political science at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. According to Sprinzak, what three events convinced the top officials in the Defense Department that mass destruction terrorism was inevitable?
2. What book influenced President Clinton’s views on terrorism, as stated by the author?
3. In the author&rsquo...