Bruce Schneier is an acclaimed security expert whose commentary has informed much of my own thinking on what we ought to be doing in response to terrorism, and why much of what we have done has been pointless, if not downright harmful (e.g., the entire ridiculous kabuki act we have to endure to get on an airplane these days). He’s written an essay for The Atlantic in response to the Marathon bombings that I think ought to be required reading for everyone in the country. Definitely click the link and peruse the whole thing — don’t worry, it’s not very long — but here are the highlights:

Terrorism, even the terrorism of radical Islamists and right-wing extremists and lone actors all put together, is not an “existential threat” against our nation. Even the events of 9/11, as horrific as they were, didn’t do existential damage to our nation. Our society is more robust than it might seem from watching the news. We need to start acting that way. 

 

There are things we can do to make us safer, mostly around investigation, intelligence, and emergency response, but we will never be 100-percent safe from terrorism; we need to accept that. 

 

How well this attack succeeds depends much less on what happened in Boston than by our reactions in the coming weeks and months. Terrorism isn’t primarily a crime against people or property. It’s a crime against our minds, using the deaths of innocents and destruction of property as accomplices. When we react from fear, when we change our laws and policies to make our country less open, the terrorists succeed, even if their attacks fail. But when we refuse to be terrorized, when we’re indomitable in the face of terror, the terrorists fail, even if their attacks succeed. 

 

Don’t glorify the terrorists and their actions by calling this part of a “war on terror.” Wars involve two legitimate sides. There’s only one legitimate side here; those on the other are criminals. They should be found, arrested, and punished. But we need to be vigilant not to weaken the very freedoms and liberties that make this country great, meanwhile, just because we’re scared. 

In other words, as tiresome and cliche’d as the expression has become in the past few years, keep calm and carry on. It’s what I wish we’d collectively done 12 years ago instead of what we did do (the PATRIOT Act, the Iraq War, Gitmo, torture). It’s what we seem to be doing now. I hope I’m right…