Domestic Terrorism: A National Assessment of State and Local Preparedness

This study analyzes states’ and municipalities’ terrorism preparedness as a means of providing law enforcement with information about the prevention and control of terrorist activities in the United States. This document reports the results of a 24-month research effort to survey and analyze the key problems and issues confronting state and local law enforcement agencies in countering such threats. The study’s three principal tasks were (1) to conduct a national survey of these agencies to assess how they perceive the threat of terrorism and to identify counterterrorism programs currently being used, (2) to select 10 jurisdictions to examine in detail how they have adapted to the threat of terrorism, and (3) to identify agencies’ programs developed to counter potential future terrorist threats in conjunction with the development of a prospective future research agenda.