September 20, 2001

The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States of America
The White House
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

The tragic events of September 11 demand the attention of all Americans. As we enter a new war against terrorism - one that will demand a focus on the complex interplay between technological, sociological and political issues - the National Academies stand ready to provide advice and counsel in any way that the nation desires.

Our nation and the world have just received a terrible wake-up call. As in the 1940s, we have a new opportunity to mobilize many of the best of our scientists and engineers in a great common effort - one in which their knowledge and talents have been redeployed and tightly refocused on preventing the future attacks of terrorists. As part of that effort, we must completely reassess all of the potential threats to our nation.

Over the next few weeks, we will be convening small groups of senior national experts - both security specialists and scientists - for a series of private meetings. These non-governmental groups will begin to explore the new dimensions of terrorism, and they will be asked to propose ways to marshal the enormous intellectual capacity of the scientific and technological communities of the United States to respond to our new threats. Unfortunately, one can easily invent scenarios that could cause far greater damage to our nation than the tremendous shock that we just received.

Members of three recent bipartisan congressional commissions have suggested an active role for the National Academies in facilitating a more concerted and better coordinated involvement of the U.S. scientific and technology community in assessing threats, developing counter measures, and designing responses to terrorist incidents. We are committed to providing assistance to you and the nation, and will communicate to you the outcome of our initial analyses of the needs and opportunities as soon as possible.

Sincerely yours,


Bruce Alberts
President
National Academy of Sciences

Wm. A. Wulf
President
National Academy of Engineering

Kenneth Shine
President
Institute of Medicine

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