A chilling piece in the New York Times today comes from Phillip Bobbitt, the Senior Director for Strategic Planning at the National Security Council under President Clinton.
Bobbitt recalls watching explosions erupt from the twin towers while his plane sat on the tarmac, delayed at Kennedy airport. He says he immediately knew what happened: he, along with many colleagues at the White House, had predicted an Al Qaeda terror attack on the American homeland within the next two years and had tried to mobilize the government to action. But they didn’t listen.
Bobbitt draws parallels to today. He says we’re facing “another set of predictable attacks” and “are failing to take the steps” to prevent them:
The first is an A.I.-designed cyberattack on U.S. critical infrastructure that could imperil the financial and health care systems, or any other internet-connected network on which we rely for our national well-being. The second is a biological attack mounted by small groups or even nihilistic individuals using A.I. to design and deploy a deadly and highly contagious pathogen.
Bin Laden was able to revolutionize terrorism because of the internet. Implicit in that observation is that AI is the internet on steroids. Bobbitt also worries that expert opinions won’t be taken seriously, and that “the democratic cohesion on which our defenses ultimately depend is eroding.” He ends with a clear call to action:
On the anniversary of the attack, Congress should determine to anticipate the tragically predictable.
Maybe they will.
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