The United States faces serious threats to its homeland from rogue states in the form of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons (CBRN) and critical information and economic infrastructure. In the age of global communications, small groups of terrorists can strike the United States homeland. A scenario could include a CBRN attack followed up by a cyber attack. Ballistic missile deployment technology and skills are becoming commonplace. In July 1998, the Rumsfeld Commission, made up of defense and ballistic missile experts, said the threat of ballistic missile proliferation had been severely underestimated by previous studies. Biological weapons can create greater destruction than any society can tolerate. In 1999, the Center for Nonproliferation Studies recorded 175 terrorist-related incidents (including hoaxes) that involved weapons of mass destruction. Obtaining, transporting, and using CBRN materials is difficult. Biological agents, such as anthrax and plague, are by weight many times more lethal than chemical or nuclear weapons. The threat of cyber threats is increasingly dangerous. A terrorist could attack critical economic or telecommunications infrastructure armed only with a computer and a telephone connection. More emergency responders should be trained in countering cyber threats. Funding cuts and other decisions made during the Clinton administration pushed back the deployment date of a workable system of the National Missile Defense until 2005. To deal with CBRN terrorism, the Government needs to create an overarching supervisory structure that will be able to harmonize the efforts of the many organizations that deal with the problem. New incentives and plans that include the private sector to work with the Government are necessary to ensure critical infrastructure security. Since homeland defense efforts are inadequate, a more detailed budgeting effort would be in the national interest. The next president should develop a plan for missile defense with the vice president responsible for most aspects. Congress should augment the Federal Emergency Management Agency to play the lead role in domestic CBRN preparedness. The Pentagon should realign offices to form a coherent system for civil support to natural disasters and terrorism. A bipartisan congressional task force should study ways to improve and simplify the oversight of selected homeland defense tasks. Footnotes