BOB RASHID

Lucas & Lepay

the

By Tim Noonan heir mellifluous voices are synonymous with crowds roaring, clapping, and stomping at Camp Randall, with the sound of the marching band and the smell of brats in the bracing fall air. T Matt Lepay and Mike Lucas are announcing another Badger football game for radio listeners, and they have the dynamics of a well-oiled comedy team. During the Western Kentucky game, you might have caught this exchange: Lepay:“Pimpleton forced out of bounds by Scott Starks at the nine-yard line, and then [unbelievingly] Pimpleton goes over the fence . . . dividing the field from the stands area, and . . .” Lepay seems at a loss, but Lucas jumps in: “He’s gonna have to buy a ticket to get back in.”

18 ON WISCONSIN Lepay responds, “Yeah, I guess so,” Marty Brennaman,” he says. “This is coaches. During game weeks, practices and seamlessly picks up the thread as what I always wanted to do.” are closed, so I do tons of reading, pore the Hilltoppers are forced to punt, Lepay started on his career path in through media guides. I wear out one and the Badgers eventually go on to college. In 1984, during his last semester VCR per year watching opponents’ win the game. at Ohio State, he found a job in Colum- tapes. I spend hours looking at the Lepay and Lucas are the broadcast bus as WNCI’s morning sports guy. teams.” He also hosts weekly coaches’ team for Wisconsin’s Badger Radio Net- “I read sports, did some news reading, shows, fills in for the local CBS affiliate, work, which covers all of UW-Madison’s covered the Rose Bowl. WNCI was my and speaks regularly to booster clubs football and men’s basketball games. education in what real radio was about. and Madison civic groups. Every Saturday in the fall and several I decided then that I wanted to be the “The key to success as a play-by-play times a week during basketball season, voice for a major college team within five guy,” says Lepay, is to be versatile. “I their commentary blankets the lake- years of graduation.” started as a news reporter. I covered dappled landscape of Wisconsin from elections. I covered crime stories. As a Amery to West Bend, as they call the Lepay invests far more time play-by-play guy, you are in essence games over the network’s fifty-two radio covering a sporting news event. So you stations, and to tens of thousands of in doing homework than in read as much as you can, and you work listeners on the Internet. Lepay, the play- calling the games. . . . “I wear to expand your horizons. That gives you by-play announcer, is the straight man, context for what you are covering.” providing all the facts — who tackled out one VCR per year Lepay’s job is made easier by his whom, who made the three-pointer, watching opponents’ tapes,” partner’s experience. Beloit native Mike who’s carrying the ball, who’s the new he says.“I spend hours Lucas is one of the senior members of the substitute. Lucas, the color analyst, Wisconsin sports family. While attending interprets the action, referring to other looking at the teams.” the UW in the late sixties, he wrote for similar plays or circumstances, giving the Daily Cardinal and Badger Herald, and background on the players, and com- For starters, Lepay kicked around in 1971, he took a position with the menting on the wisdom, or lack thereof, small Ohio towns, doing high-school Capital Times, where he still works today, of a certain coaching decision. play-by-play, American Legion baseball, writing a regular sports column. Because Lepay’s job calls for precision and and everything else. He called three to of his skills as a journalist, his specialty dependability, and as a friendly, straight- four games a week, as well as working in sports, his extensive University of shooting optimist, he has the perfect regular, eight-hour disc jockey shifts. Wisconsin experience, and his editorial personality for it. On the athletic field, “I played the music of yesteryear, read opinions, he was soon recruited to cover he would be the well-liked captain of the the obituaries — everything,” he says. Badger sports in other media. team, a dependable fullback who may Play-by-play jobs at major schools Lucas began with talk shows in 1976 not break too many long runs, but who are plum assignments with hundreds of on WIBA and color analysis in 1977 with always gets you your yardage. applicants. The winner often has an hockey announcer Chuck Kaiton, who Lucas is the creative, quick thinker inside track with connections at the left Madison for a job with the World who has to improvise in an unfolding school or in the state. It is a tribute to Hockey Association. Lucas started doing situation. He never knows what’s going Lepay’s skill that he had none of these. tape-delay football and basketball on to happen, nor what Lepay, the first He simply saw an ad in 1988, and then WHA-TV in the early eighties, and responder to every development, is going applied for and won the job, meeting his began working with Lepay in 1994. to say about it. Part cynic, part humorist, five-year goal. Many color analysts were once play- part spin-meister, Lucas has more edge “I was scared to death about the ers, such as Ed Podolak, Iowa’s former than the upbeat Lepay. He’s the crafty, snow, plus it was the biggest job I’d ever All-American and Super Bowl star, and flashy halfback who might make three had,” he says. “It was intimidating. And former pro-football icon Kenny “Snake” feints and then tear off in a direction being an Ohio State graduate put me in a Stabler at Alabama. Ex-players bring nobody expected. Together, Lucas and position to take a certain amount of grief both name recognition and insider Lepay are a professional marriage of from Wisconsin people. But that’s kind knowledge to the broadcast. But Lucas reporter and pundit. of fun.” has other attributes. “I probably spend more time with Lepay invests far more time in doing He’s worked with three different Mike than my wife during the season,” homework than in calling the games. sports on both radio and TV for years. says Lepay. An Ohio native, he fell in “Game preparation is extensive. During “When the situation warrants,” he says, love with sports broadcasting as a kid. fall camp, I try to go to every practice — “I can put some of the things that have “I grew up a fan of the Cincinnati Reds, twice a day during two-a-days — and happened on the field into historical and [announcers] Al Michaels and interview a number of players and perspective.”

WINTER 2001 19 DAVID STLUKA

A multi-tasker like his partner, Lucas still hosts talk shows, provides daily radio commentaries, and has written two books. But in terms of his job in the booth, Lucas claims that the most impor- tant part of a successful broadcast is chemistry: “You have to feel good about the person next to you.” It’s also helpful to be on good terms with the coaches, who can make your job easy or hellish. “My relationship with [football coach] Barry Alvarez is ter- rific,” says Lepay. “I do his TV shows. I also had a terrific relationship with [for- mer basketball coach] Dick Bennett.” Badger radio football broadcasts used to involve a couple of guys in the Basketball engineer Dave McCann, Matt Lepay, and Mike Lucas brought the excitement of the booth, devoting about a tenth of their Final Four to Badger fans who couldn’t make it to Indianapolis in 2000. Away from the court, jobs to covering the game for the local Lepay, the guy who needs context, reads history to relax. Lucas also relaxes by reading radio station. Today, they require up to a . . . about Wisconsin sports, broadcasting, or anything else to help him on the job. dozen people across a large swath of the Midwest, devoting more than forty hours game, Lucas and Lepay split duties in Some schools actually have an inde- per person per week in a high-tech, the locker room, interviewing coaches pendent spotter whose sole job is to point satellite operation. But the success of the and players, and in the booth, giving a out names. The University of Iowa’s Red broadcast still depends on the profession- post-mortem on the game — discussing MacAleece once found his spotter at a alism, knowledge, and friendly familiar- the emerging stars, injuries, final stats, loss for the name of a fifth-string opposi- ity of those same two guys in the booth. and upcoming games. Finally, a couple tion player who had just come into the Wisconsin fans are fortunate to have one of hours after the last whistle and maybe game. When the spotter gave a bewil- of the most respected and talented duos ten hours after the day began, the dered shrug, MacAleece reported with in all of sports broadcasting. broadcast concludes. nary a pause that “Huck Tucker” had After the week’s preparation, the One of the enduring mysteries just come into the game. broadcast itself, from pre-game show for careful listeners surrounds an The next week the spotter was home through post-game report, is a tightly announcer’s ability to call the name sick listening to the game on the radio, run affair. Lucas and Lepay arrive of a particular player — especially an and he heard his temporary replacement hours before the first fans, while the opposing team’s player — instanta- faced with the same situation. MacAleece engineers are establishing all the com- neously. The secret to it all is the board. then announced again that Huck Tucker, munications hook-ups. Once all the “I keep spotter boards, with all the data who had curiously just transferred that technical elements are in place, Lepay on the teams,” says Lepay, who spends week from the previous week’s oppo- begins the pre-game show, usually hours developing a new one before every nent, had come onto the field. Until they reporting on the status of both teams, game. The board sits in front of the play- developed a deeper board, Huck Tucker analyzing game plans, and interviewing by-play announcer where it doesn’t appeared in nearly every game for the players or coaches. Occasionally, a obstruct his vision of the field, but where opposition. guest won’t show at halftime, and Lucas he can see it with a flick of his eyes. Team broadcasters such as Lepay will have to revert to his strength — “My chart goes three and four deep, and Lucas inhabit a journalistic gray improvisation. and carries every bit of data about every area. They must report on a live event After the pre-game show, Lucas and player — position, class, height, weight, accurately and professionally, but at the Lepay settle into the booth or, if it’s hometown, personal data,” says Lepay. same time, they do not need to remain basketball season, behind the table. They “Basketball has more games, but fewer unbiased, as other reporters do. They are conduct more interviews at halftime and players, so the board is easier. But then, part of the Badger sports community. after the game, while statisticians con- basketball is a little more challenging, “We’re play-by-play, the voice of the stantly provide information — how many because you are talking more; basketball team,” says Lepay. “We’re not the sports yards were gained, shooting percentages, is also a tougher challenge for Mike to get talk guys. There’s a big difference and so on. For an hour or so after the in and out and allow me to do my job.” between a talk show host and an

20 ON WISCONSIN announcer. A talk show host is paid to mary broadcast signal on a digital line, “Before the second half, the team was stir the pot when the situation calls for which is essentially a high-fidelity line. very late coming out. Unbeknownst to criticism. We won’t go as far as the Then, if we lose that, we use a POT — us, our mikes were left open. We were in average talk show host. If there’s a plain old telephone line.” If that connec- kind of a cynical mood, and Mike and I controversial coaching decision, we raise tion fails, Skinner turns to a cell phone. said something to the effect of, ‘Maybe the issue, and let the coach explain his “It’s basically a job of preventive they don’t want to come out. Maybe they side of the story, and that’s that. maintenance,” says Skinner, “making just want to make an apology to the city “You try to be honest with what you sure from the get-go that there aren’t of Charlotte. Duke [the opponent in the see and how you report what you see,” mistakes from a technical standpoint. In next round] must certainly be frightened says Lucas, “but I speak my mind. Right my twenty-eight years, we’ve lost about of Wisconsin by this point.’ We had no now I’m viewed by some fans as being a minute of broadcast, and that was idea we were on the air, and we heard too soft on the Badgers. Before, they because of a failed telephone switch.” about it later from some folks. Fortu- thought I was too hard because I was nately, no one got too upset.” critical of [former coaches] Morton, The pressure of juggling numerous Yoder, and Cofield. But they were losing. You may live two miles from variables during live broadcast after live The perception of me changed with the Camp Randall or the Kohl broadcast might drive many people into success of the teams.” early retirement. Announcers have to be The Wisconsin Radio Network, Center, but by the time you “on” for up to five hours at a time. In which employs Lepay and Lucas, has hear Lepay’s voice, it has addition to reporting the action accu- actually been owned since 1994 by rately, which depends on hours of study Learfield Communications of Jefferson traveled across several states and preparation, they have to get the City, Missouri. Learfield is one of three and into space before it has correct number of plugs in for each large companies that have captured the hit your local airwaves. advertiser, respond to sometimes frantic lion’s share of the major college broad- instructions from the engineer, listen to cast business throughout the country, a constant influx of statistics, handle with sports broadcast rights to about a From Missouri, the signal is sent back unrehearsed interviews, and give appro- dozen major universities. to a Milwaukee affiliate and then aloft to priate cues at appropriate times in a With its national management and a satellite, where the stations on the constant exchange with the producers offices in three different states, Learfield Wisconsin Radio Network pull it down and engineers. makes getting Wisconsin’s broadcasts for broadcast. You may live two miles Although he admits that his voice out to radios across the state far more from Camp Randall or the Kohl Center, gets tired after five hours, Lepay feels involved than it was when local station but by the time you hear Lepay’s voice, it lucky to be living out a lifetime dream. WIBA held sole rights. On-site responsi- has traveled across several states and into “I always thought that was maybe the bility for football falls to engineer Al space before it has hit your local airwaves. greatest job in the world — to be a sports Skinner, who ensures that all the phone But high-tech, national support and announcer,” he says. lines and hook-ups are set up prior to the professional announcers do not inoculate “I have too much of a passion for broadcast. During the program, Skinner a live broadcast against the unexpected. what I do to ever feel stress,” adds makes all the required switches from live Several years ago, the basketball team Lucas. “I don’t ever look at this as work, broadcast to taped commercials, which was playing Southwest Missouri State in or I would have been out of this business have been produced — sometimes at the the early rounds of the NCAA Tourna- a long time ago.” Referring to the sense last minute — in Missouri. ment in Charlotte, North Carolina, when of exhilaration he still gets whenever he In the Show-Me state, a producer, the broadcast team performed what enters a sold-out venue, Lucas says , maybe a high-school student who has Lepay refers to as the “open mike trick.” “I think it’s one of the most exciting never been on the Wisconsin campus, “At the end of the first half, the score things I could do — to walk into this sits in a cubicle next to a dozen other was 21–12. Really. It was awful,” he arena and just feel the emotion of a people producing a dozen other Learfield says. “Murphy’s Law was in effect. They crowd. And I wouldn’t trade that for games from different places around the were missing open shot after open shot. anything in the world.” country. The producer listens to the Mike and I were wondering how to broadcast and plugs in the right make this interesting. We were asking, A former president of the Learfield-owned Tarheel Sports commercials at the right breaks. ‘Can they come back?’ The team was Network, Tim Noonan lives in North Carolina and writes Throughout the game, Skinner having some success, but it was torturous corporate and family histories. works with the Missouri producer to to watch. And we felt badly for the monitor the live signal. “We run a pri- coaches and the players.

WINTER 2001 21 As UW scientist Jonathan Foley taught others how greenhouse gases are altering Earth’s climate, he decided it was time to slash his own family’s energy consump- tion. Find out how Practicing easily you could do the same. What HeTeaches BY BRIAN LAVENDEL ’85, MA’91 PHOTOS BY JEFF MILLER

our years ago, climatologist Jonathan Foley ’90, PhD’93 and his spouse, Andrea ’90, MS’93, lived the American dream: a five-bedroom house on a large double lot, a young daughter, Ftwo dogs, two cars, and two jobs in the city. Every weekday they commuted from the village of Mazomanie to UW-Madison, where she worked in the biochemistry department and he researched how humans alter the global climate. One way, he knew, was by burning fossil fuels such as coal and oil. Admittedly, the Foleys weren’t energy gluttons, but neither were they among the most frugal energy consumers. The three family mem- bers burned more than 1,500 therms of natural gas a year to heat their house and water (the Wisconsin average is about 1,000), drove about 35,000 miles per year (the U.S. average is roughly 11,300 miles per car), and used some 550 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity a month (the U.S. average is about 1,000).

Doing their part: Climatologist Jonathan Foley, his spouse, Andrea, and their daughters, Hannah and Kate, live in surprising comfort, despite deciding to slash energy consumption.

22 ON WISCONSIN Topsy-turvy: Since cold air Bright idea: Compact Fertile soil: Flowers, fruit sinks and hot air rises, the fluorescent light trees, and vegetables flourish refrigerator saves energy by bulbs use 75 percent on the grounds, thanks, in having the motor above and less energy than part, to a garden compost bin the freezer below. standard bulbs. the Foleys maintain.

Downsizing: The Foleys moved Jonathan Foley calculated the fam- computer models that predict how the from a larger home thirty miles ily’s direct emissions of carbon dioxide world’s climate and ecosystems will from Madison to this cozy brick colonial house near Lake Monona. (CO2) at 42,000 pounds per year — only respond to increased levels of CO2 and slightly less than average for two adults other greenhouse gases in the atmos- in the United States. At the time, he phere. He’s a rising star of climatological recalls, “Our house was bigger than we research, having won the National needed, and my wife and I were each Science Foundation Career Develop- driving our cars sixty miles a day.” ment Award in 1995 and the Presidential Today, the soft-spoken thirty-three-year- Early Career Award from NASA old seems almost aghast at his family’s in 1997. once lavish consumption of energy. “Jon is widely admired and Foley doesn’t remember when the respected by the best scientists,” says idea of changing his lifestyle first Jane Lubchenco, a zoologist and mem- occurred to him; he calls it a gradual ber of the National Academy of Sciences. process. But at some point — perhaps “His models and analyses are innovative during his thirty-mile commute into and credible. He is tackling some of the town, or while mowing his 14,000- toughest issues of climate change.” square-foot suburban lawn — it dawned Foley led the team that developed the on him that his family’s excessive use of first computer model to incorporate the fossil fuels was partly responsible for the effects of biological systems on climate. very climate change he studied. His research has contributed to an No-mow paradise: Opting for raised-bed gardens instead of To Foley, it was already a scientifi- understanding of the interactions among turf grass on their property, the cally proven fact that greenhouse gases humans, the earth’s atmosphere, and the Foleys have given away their — especially emissions from the burning global ecosystem as a whole. He and his gas-powered lawn mower, replacing its noisy motor with of fossil fuels — were accumulating team study how land-use practices can the soothing sounds of birds in the atmosphere and altering Earth’s alter ecosystems — which, in turn, alter and insects. climate. His examination of his family’s the atmosphere. For example, a pasture role in the process was a turning point. generally does not recirculate as much “Am I willing to put my money water through the atmosphere as a for- where my mouth is?” Foley asked est, so replacing forest with pasture leads himself. If not, he figured, he had no to a drier climate. business telling others to do their part. It’s not surprising that Foley, who Most of us would say that if there’s says Star Trek and Carl Sagan were pow- one thing mere mortals can’t control, it’s erful influences on him as a kid, became the weather. But Foley says that’s not a student of Planet Earth. “I’ve always necessarily true, at least not when we look been interested in other planets and at the big picture. He says our lifestyle whether life could exist on them or not,” choices can and do influence the weather. he says. “So I set about looking at Foley ought to know. As director of atmospheres on other planets, and it the university’s Center for Sustainability dawned on me that I was living on the and the Global Environment, he designs most interesting planet.”

WINTER 2001 23 Fan club: All bedrooms in the It’s been a breeze: Up-front solution: Water Foley house sport ceiling Even on windy days, use drops to a mere 11 fans, helping air to circulate the Foley house gallons per load in the front- and reducing the need for stays comfortable, loading washing machine, air-conditioning during the thanks to caulk and compared to the 20 used by warm months. weather-stripping. traditional models.

Successful savings: Three years Studying the connection between improvements in the technology, says after deciding to make changes both inside and outside, the human actions and climate helped Foley Foley, some bulbs (those with a lower Foleys have exceeded their see the light. In late 1998, he and Andrea “color temperature” rating) now give off original energy-cutting goals. made what he calls a new-millennium a more pleasant spectrum of light and

resolution: to reduce their CO2 emissions can be used with dimmer switches. by 50 percent. Three years later, the Compact fluorescents use 75 percent less Foleys agree to show me what they’ve energy than standard bulbs, so each done to achieve that goal. compact fluorescent bulb cuts coal-

The first step had been to part with burning CO2 emissions by about 1,300 their large house outside of Madison and pounds over its ten-year lifetime. move to a smaller house in the city, near Before us stands a new refrigerator. the shore of Lake Monona. I expect that The freezer section, Foley points out, is their new living quarters will be sparse, below the refrigeration compartment. efficient, and chilly, in keeping with their “Why put the motor on the bottom, resolution. When the front door of the where it heats everything up?” he asks white-shuttered brick colonial opens and rhetorically. Since cold air sinks and hot I catch a glimpse of a plush living room air rises, explains Foley, it makes sense to beyond the foyer, I wonder if I’ve put the coldest section on the bottom and mistakenly knocked on the door of a the motor on top. That way the motor neighborhood bed-and-breakfast. But can give off excess heat without warming no, this is the place. the fridge itself. Although many refriger- Smart glass: “Low-emittance” Foley greets me at the door, his ators are energy hogs, side-by-side windows allow light to come in, yet keep heat from escaping. On young daughter, Hannah, at his feet. refrigerator-freezer combinations — cold winter evenings, the Foleys Behind him, comfortable sofas and with their large freezer sections — are pull insulated blinds down over antique tables are carefully arranged the worst, sometimes consuming more the windows, rather like covering them with quilts. across dark wood floors softened with than 1,200 kWh a year. This model, plush Oriental rugs. Classical music which uses only 537 kWh, has earned plays at a low volume as sunshine an Energy Star label for highly efficient streams through the many tall windows. appliances from the Department of “It’s not a house of denial,” says Energy and the Environmental Foley. And yet, he explains, this warm, Protection Agency. cozy abode consumes a fraction of the On the other side of the kitchen sits a fossil fuel used by neighboring homes. German-engineered dishwasher that uses Hannah spins and tangles herself in 4.8 to 7.2 gallons of hot water in a cycle, her father’s legs as he gives me a tour of depending on the size of the load — their home. Along the way, he points out compared with 15 for an ordinary dish- the energy-saving features — most of washer. This and other Energy Star dish- which are not obvious to the casual eye. washers use more efficient technologies We start in the kitchen, which is lit, for the primary wash cycle and use less like the rest of the house, with compact hot water to clean. In addition, like many fluorescent light bulbs. Thanks to recent new dishwashers, it has an air-dry cycle

24 ON WISCONSIN Nothing too small: Even the energy saved by using a super-efficient electrolumi- nescent night-light in their daughter’s bedroom adds up over a year’s time. that recirculates residual hot air, adding to the energy savings. In the basement, Foley shows me a super-efficient furnace equipped with a variable-speed fan. “So if only a little heating is needed, the motor doesn’t have to run as much,” he explains. The vari- able-speed motor uses only one-eighth the electricity of the more common What You Can Do single-speed motor. Happily for the Foleys, their new n average homeowner can take many steps to reduce home had already been outfitted with energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, says four solar panels to help heat its water. A UW climatologist Jonathan Foley. He suggests consumers Despite Wisconsin’s cold winter climate, the panels supply two-thirds to three- learn about how they can modify their homes, driving habits, and quarters of the family’s needs. “I love lifestyles to cut back. Foley says he garnered tips from several going into the basement on a sunny day Web sites, especially those from the U.S. Department of Energy in January and seeing the water pre- and the Environmental Protection Agency. He recommends the heated to 110 degrees by the sun,” says Foley. During the summer, the family is Rocky Mountain Institute in Snowmass, Colorado, for books and able to get by without using their natu- other publications on energy efficiency. ral-gas water heater at all. Energy-efficient appliances are much easier to find these days, In another corner of the basement sits a front-loading washing machine. Foley says. Such items are increasingly available at major depart- One of the most efficient available, it ment and appliance stores. Compact fluorescent lights and other uses eleven gallons of hot water per load, energy-saving products can be found at Real Goods, a company versus twenty gallons for a traditional top-loading machine. The Foleys use specializing in ecologically sustainable products. Even Home drying racks whenever possible, which Depot now sells compact fluorescent bulbs. conserve more energy than their effi- For more information, check out these Web sites: cient, gas-powered clothes dryer. Foley explains that he and Andrea http://energy.gov didn’t buy all of these appliances at once. www.energystar.gov They set aside a portion of their wages www.rmi.org each month, and when they have saved www.cleanerandgreener.org enough, they make whatever improve- ment is next on their list. The couple www.americanforests.org spent $800 on the washing machine and www.realgoods.com dryer, another $800 on the refrigerator, and $4,800 on the furnace and a new central air-conditioning unit — a model

WINTER 2001 25 with a seasonal energy-efficiency rating gas-powered lawn mower, trimming He knows that the emissions of one of 14 out of 15, versus a rating of 5 for eighty pounds of CO2 emissions a year. family are a mere drop in the ocean of the old unit. What’s more, the landscape outside their atmospheric pollution. But he says, “I Back upstairs, Foley takes me into home attracts birds and insects — not to believe in the power of good examples.” the master bedroom and gestures at the mention the human eye. He hopes that by modeling energy effi- ceiling. It’s the first time I notice that all Perhaps the crowning stroke is that ciency while maintaining a comfortable the bedrooms have ceiling fans that the Foleys’ electricity is virtually emis- lifestyle, his family’s actions will ripple reduce the need for air-conditioning. sion-free. When Madison Gas & Elec- through the lives of students, neighbors, Even Hannah’s night-light hasn’t escaped tric announced a new wind farm, from and colleagues. Indeed, it’s the responsi- an energy saver’s scrutiny: it’s a super- which residents could purchase energy bility of a scientist to act on the results of efficient, blue-glowing electroluminescent at a premium of three cents per kWh his or her research, argues Foley. “We light, using a mere 0.04 watts — com- (about $7 a month), Foley jumped at can’t hide out in an ivory tower any- pared to 4 watts for a typical night-light. the chance. Since wind energy doesn’t more,” he says. That may not sound like much, but those involve the burning of fossil fuels, he Their example is already paying off. 4 watts of power would light one explains, even the little electricity his Neighbor and county supervisor Andy hundred of Hannah’s blue beacons. family uses — less than half that used Olsen MS’96 says that Foley inspired “Jon and I grew up during the by a typical Wisconsin family — is pro- him to switch his home lighting to com- energy crisis of the early seventies,” says duced without adding carbon emissions pact fluorescents. “Jon told me where Andrea. “I’ve always tried to think about to the atmosphere. I could purchase them, and I changed wastage and minimize it. I hope this has The biggest savings of all came from the bulbs in my house fixtures and gave the same effect on Hannah someday.” replacing their two cars with a hybrid bulbs as Christmas gifts to my family and In addition to cutting down on the electric vehicle. The car, says Foley, a lot of friends,” Olsen says. amount of energy going into the house, “reduces tailpipe emissions by about 90 Foley says that as a scientist, he asks the family also worked to make sure that percent compared with other cars on the a simple research question: How are we what energy they did use wasn’t going road. In terms of CO2 and gas consump- doing in terms of managing this planet? right back out. They patched cracks tion, it’s also quite good: it gets about At present, he believes, “We’re monkey- around doors and windows with rope fifty miles per gallon on the highway and ing around with the global climate in caulk and weather-stripping. They insu- in the city. Because we do mostly city ways we just don’t understand.” What lated the attic. Fortunately, the previous driving — when we drive at all — this the results of the experiment will be, owners had installed double-paned “low- cut our car-related CO2 emissions even climatologists can’t tell. e” (low-emittance) windows, which are roughly in half. Our previous car got But Foley thinks we should err on filled with argon gas and coated with an about twenty-five miles per gallon in the the side of caution. “Are we willing to invisible layer of metallic oxide or silver. city.” They get by with one car thanks to place a burden on future generations by This allows light energy in and prevents their new location; both Jon and Andrea wastefully consuming cheap energy the escape of radiant heat, keeping the often take the bus or bicycle to work. now?” he asks. “We know that we have house both bright and warm. On cold Cutting down on their commute has had to move away from fossil fuels — they winter evenings, Foley explains, they the added benefit of saving time, says will run out eventually.” pull insulated blinds down over the Foley, noting that he and his wife for- If we anticipate that economic shift, windows, as if covering them with a quilt merly spent about an hour and a half a we’ll save energy and money, he argues. to keep cold out and warmth in. day in the car. Besides, he adds, taking steps to save The family’s emissions-saving tech- Today, three years after declaring energy will only benefit the economy, by niques extend even to the outside of their their energy resolution, the Foleys can increasing efficiency. home. Expecting a broad lawn, I find celebrate success. In fact, they exceeded “This is the biggest business opportu- instead raised-bed gardens filled with their original goal, managing to chop nity ever,” says Foley. “And it’s win-win. prairie plants and perennials, now dor- their annual CO2 emissions by two- Energy conservation is a good thing to mant for the winter. There’s none of your thirds, to about 15,000 pounds. They cut do, no matter what you think about the ordinary turf grass here — just flowers, a their energy use in all categories: electric- fact of global warming.” small salad garden, and fruit trees. ity from 550 to 295 kWh per month, nat-

“We don’t need a big yard,” says ural gas from 1,500 to 900 therms Brian Lavendel ’85, MA’91, environmental journalist, Foley, noting that just down the street is per year, miles driven from 35,000 to Madison resident, and a neighbor of the Foleys, a neighborhood park for an evening 10,000 a year. bicycles whenever possible, leaving his rather ancient, combustion-engine Toyota parked in the driveway. stroll or playtime with Hannah. The And it didn’t involve any bloodlet- A version of this article first appeared in Audubon Foleys were able to give away their ting, says Foley. Magazine.

26 ON WISCONSIN S EPTEMBER 11, 2001 R EFLECTION, REACTION, RESPONSE 9. MICHAEL FORSTER ROTHBART On September 11, suddenly the world we knew would never be the same. There was only the before, and the after.

There are moments that carve life like a great river, and everything is defined as being on this side of it, or on the other. Pearl Harbor, President Kennedy’s assassination, and the end of Communism all divided our lives like cultural fence lines. They are moments etched forever in our memories, as though our minds instantly recorded every detail of where we were and My mom called, and woke me up: “Dave, turn on your TV! The World what we were doing. September 11, Trade Center was just bombed again.” For the next four, maybe five hours, I was glued to CNN. I had questions run- 2001, is now one of those moments. ning through my head. Who did this? Are there going to be more attacks? I had braced To help us remember and reflect, myself for the newspeople to tell us that the White House had been hit, or maybe the president killed, or worse. The Pentagon had already had one side blown out, and I On Wisconsin asked a variety of was just waiting for the next piece of bad news. The towers were emitting billows of alumni, students, and faculty to tell us black smoke, and it covered all of lower Manhattan. I remember sitting in my apart- ment, actually crying. New York officials and media personnel had begun speculat- what they were doing on that day. ing about how many people could have been in the building, and how many could’ve died. The numbers were astonishing. In my lifetime, I had seen nothing like this. That night, I thought about my parents — how they had been at UW-Madison during the Vietnam War. It was a time of external struggle, but the resistance to the war caused great trouble within our borders. Was this our new war, like the newspeople said? Will there be a draft? Can we catch who did this? Will it happen again? — David Karrow x’04, student

28 S EPTEMBER 11, 2001 these decisions were complicated by my JEFF MILLER frustration at not being there — not being able to talk in person with staff and students as the events unfolded. On Wednesday, when we were still unsure about when airports would open, I decided to rent a car. I was lucky. I booked the last one from the hotel agency. By Thursday morning, LAX still hadn’t reopened, and Rudy, my wife, and I started driving home. We stopped to pick up Paula in Las Vegas, where her plane had been forced to land. We stopped in Wyoming for three hours of rest. Otherwise, we didn’t stop, getting to Madison at midnight Saturday. The drive was long, and we all had so much on our minds, so many things that we wanted and needed to do. I may never have been more anxious to get back to my Above: At a candlelight vigil on the night of attacks — you could see the collective shock and office and all that awaited me here. grief on hundreds of candlelit faces as they observed a lengthy moment of silence. — J.M. Left: At a Library Mall gathering, a student wore a flag draped across his shoulders, as if it — John Wiley, chancellor were a shield. I saw faces echoing the grief I felt, people holding each other tightly. — M.F.R.

On September 11, I was on my way to Boston and had to change planes I was planning to fly home from in Pittsburgh. As I was walking into the terminal, I saw a crowd watching TV in a café, Santa Barbara by way of Denver, and there was a building on fire. Several people said that all the airports in the U.S. and the plane took off at about ten min- had been closed, so I called my parents and got the whole story. My first concern was utes to six in the morning. Ten to six in getting to Boston. My sister was in the hospital, and there was no way I was going to California, of course, is ten to nine in be kept from seeing her. But when I got back to Madison eight days later, I and the New York — we were taking off just as other ROTC candidates had a lot of questions for the officers — we wanted to know the first plane was hitting the World who was being called up and how the campaign might play out. They didn’t know Trade Center. Forty-five minutes or so specifically, of course, but they’re experienced, and we wanted to get their opinions. into the flight, the pilot came on the — Matt Silverman x’04, student intercom and told us what had hap- pened. It felt like ice water washing over the passengers — we were all shocked At the time of the attacks, I was in hijacked plane filtered in, we watched, out of our individual pods and began Santa Barbara, California, along shocked, not knowing how to react. talking to one another. with my wife and Sandy Wilcox, Marion Our group met in the hotel parking Even more chilling news came when Brown, and Rudy Fleitner from the UW lot to decide what to do. We thought we the pilot added that all U.S. airspace had Foundation. We had just wrapped up a might have a better chance of getting a been closed, that all aircraft had to land series of events for West Coast alumni flight home from Los Angeles — a mis- immediately. We were set down in Las and donors, and were getting ready to taken notion, as it turned out. We still Vegas, and in the airport was a bar with come home. [WAA President and CEO] had no idea of the full scope of the a huge-screen TV. Paula Bonner had been with us, too, but tragedies or the extent of the disruption to transportation systems. had left that morning on an earlier flight. About the photographs I had just finished packing when the On the drive back to Los Angeles, I alternated between listening to radio These pictures capture a few of the many ways that people phone rang — I think it was Marion who grieved, shared, and coped in the extraordinary aftermath called — with news of the first plane col- reports and talking by cell phone to of September 11. University photographers Jeff Miller and lision. We turned on the television and people on campus. There was much Michael Forster Rothbart worked at the numerous vigils to decide. Was campus secure? What and events on campus. Nina Barnett ’69, a photojournalist watched with disbelief as the second and lifelong Manhattanite, took pictures of New York City plane hit the World Trade Center. As should we tell our students and the in the days following the attacks. “This city is wounded to reports of the Pentagon and the other public? Should classes go on? All of its soul,” she says.

R EFLECTION, REACTION, RESPONSE 29 JEFF MILLER

On September 14, about 20,000 people gathered on Library Mall to participate in an event to remember and reflect on what happened. As I first leaned over the edge of the Memorial Library rooftop to make this picture, I was awed by the crowd. I can't think of another time in my years on campus when such a public outpouring has occurred. — J.M.

People gravitated there and stood to San Francisco the next morning. I smoke. All I could think was, “The sky stunned and horrified to see the tape of crossed the street to my building, One is falling. The end of the world is at the planes crashing and the buildings Liberty Plaza. What a beautiful, sunny hand, and I’m in Chinatown!” collapsing. day! I sat at my desk and began working. I was lucky. The next day, I would I was grounded in Las Vegas for two Suddenly, there was a large explo- have been on the flight that crashed in days before John and Georgia [Wiley] sion. The building shook, and the lights Pennsylvania. If the eleventh had been and Rudy [Fleitner] picked me up as flickered. The sky was swimming with spoiled by rain, if those events had they drove home to Madison. Along the documents and debris. The emergency taken place on the twelfth, I could have way, we passed through a stretch of system told us to stay in the building, lived a different story. Nevada, Arizona, and Utah, and there but away from the windows. But when — Jennifer Terio ’94, New York City was this crystal blue sky blazing over red we felt another explosion, the message rocks and mesas. In the immediate wake changed, and we were ordered to evac- of the attacks, seeing the beauty of the uate via the stairwells — fifty flights My roommate, Nick Davis, country gave me a profound feeling. down. When I arrived at the ground came in and said, “You’ve got to — Paula Bonner MS’78, president and floor, I heard the sirens and saw the fire come here and look at the TV.” CEO, Wisconsin Alumni Association engines attempting to drive down I couldn’t put into words what I was feel- Broadway. My legs kept moving me ing. It was just so unreal. calmly north, away from the World About a half-hour later, I went to Like any other day, I took the Trade Center, despite the panic going class. We tried to talk through it, but it Number 4 Express down to my on in my head. I was not looking where was hard. Most students had the same office in Lower Manhattan. I was going. I had tears in my eyes, and reaction I did — just being shocked and Standing in the shadows of the two I was shaking and tense. I heard not knowing what to say. World Trade Center towers, I purchased screams and another loud explosion, By about 1:30 p.m., I went to football breakfast at the farmers’ market — not and when I turned back, the entire practice. In the locker room, there are fresh produce, because I would be flying avenue behind me was filled with three TVs, and usually, they’re tuned to

30 S EPTEMBER 11, 2001 I had just arrived in the Long- worth House Office Building across the street from the Capitol when my staff informed me that a plane had struck the World Trade Center. We all watched TV in horror as the second

MICHAEL FORSTER ROTHBART plane struck and news of an explosion at the Pentagon began to circulate. We decided to close our office and leave the building when word came that the Capi- tol and all adjacent buildings were to be evacuated. My staff and I walked to my apartment near the Hill, where we watched TV for the next several hours. I was deeply moved on Tuesday night when I joined my fellow House members and Senators in returning to the steps of the U.S. Capitol. There we held hands and sang “God Bless Amer- In the days after the attack, we all desperately wanted to find something we could do to help. Giving blood seemed like one option. At the Youngblood Center in Union South, the line of ica” to symbolize and demonstrate our people waiting to donate blood stretched out the door. — M.F.R. love for this country, our sorrow for the victims and their families, and our unity. MTV or SportsCenter. That day, they and he talked to us about what was I embraced and tried to support were all on CNN. Everyone was just going on. He said the only way to get my many colleagues who represent glued to the TVs. There was none of the through something like that was to talk Manhattan and surrounding areas as normal locker-room talk. Guys were just with one another and support each they shuttled each day to the Capitol listening quietly, not saying much. other. And I think as a unit, we all and each night back to their districts to It was hard to concentrate on foot- realized this put things in perspective. do whatever they could to assist. ball, but we really needed to focus. We Football is only a very, very small part — Tammy Baldwin JD’89, had just lost to Fresno State, and the of life. There are definitely bigger U.S. representative for Wisconsin’s game coming up [later postponed] was things to worry about. Second District, including Madison going to be really important for us. — Joey Boese x’02, Coach Alvarez addressed the issues, Badger football player We had four cellular phones, one real phone line, one computer The leadership group of University Health Services was gathered in the hooked up to a cable modem, UW Foundation Building for our regular monthly meeting. In the middle of a robust and one big television with about three discussion about the challenges of student health insurance, a member of the group hundred channels. Four ex-New Yorkers who had left the meeting for a moment returned with the horrific news about the paced nervously in an upstairs apartment attacks. Stunned, we immediately adjourned the meeting. on Madison’s near east side. Family As I hurried back [to my office], I began thinking of all the students who would members were safe. We were hoping to be directly and indirectly affected: the large number of students from the East Coast, hear from all the friends. the international students and minority students who might begin fearing backlash, The phone lines in most of Manhat- students in the reserves who might be called to active duty. I thought also of all the tan and Brooklyn (and Florida, it turned other students who would be experiencing a heightened sense of vulnerability, anxiety, out) were overwhelmed. So were most anger, or hopelessness. cellular services. Only e-mail got Dennis Christoffersen, our clinical director for crisis, began organizing teams of through. A series of “please forward to” counselors to go to the residence halls, family housing, church groups, and other and “tell everyone I’m okay” e-mails groups that might request crisis debriefing. As we prepared to help others cope with made its way to my computer screen. On the stress and uncertainty of the day’s events, we spent some time supporting ourselves, September 11, the Internet seemed to be recognizing that many of us cope with our anxiety by helping others. the only thing we could count on. — Bob McGrath, director of By the end of the day, we had heard Counseling and Consultation Services from most of our friends in most of the

R EFLECTION, REACTION, RESPONSE 31 NINA BARNETT(2)

Above: Washington Square, September 15 — flowers and memorials cover a chain link fence. Right: On September 14, there was a candlelight vigil at the Armory, where fami- lies went to report the missing. I don’t know who the woman in the Wisconsin sweatshirt is, but when I saw her, I immediately thought of my alma mater. — N.B. city. So our immediate anxiety was The paper’s office buzzed with activ- was evacuated from the terminal, and allayed. All that was left was the substan- ity. Its phone lines flashed red as contrib- thousands of us were left wandering tial fear about the future of our city, our utors frantically tried to contact friends, outside with no phones, no transporta- nation, our species. By late in the after- family, and sources in New York and tion, and no place to go. noon, these larger questions occupied Washington, D.C. I discussed layout Eventually, I was rescued by a man us. Weeks later, we still have more ideas for the front page and story lengths picking up his mother, who offered a questions than answers. with other editors. Tuesday’s terrorism ride and shelter to as many people as But as we looked outside the window quickly became an extracurricular activ- could fit into his van. Hotels were that day at the lovely Wisconsin autumn, ity for me, rather than a devastating act booked to overflowing, so he took us we felt just far enough from the horrors of hatred. In my mind, I understood how home, where his wife welcomed us, of New York City. Yet we felt more con- horrific the violence was, but it hadn’t literally, with open arms. Although the nected than we ever expected to be. reached my heart. household consisted of ten people — Siva Vaidhyanathan, I got home from the paper at about (mother; father; children ages two, four, professor in the School of Library 2 a.m. Wednesday. I knew I was ex- and fourteen; the mother’s brother, sis- and Information Studies hausted, but I couldn’t sleep. I was afraid ter, and her baby visiting from Peru; the of something unidentifiable, intangible. I father’s nephew; and the grandmother), As a student newspaper editor, the slept with a night-light on. I hadn’t slept all of us were invited to stay as long as tragedy had special implications with a night-light on in ten years. we needed. for me. While most people could turn off — Erin Buege x’03, How lucky I was to be adopted by the television or radio and set down their copy chief for the Daily Cardinal this wonderful family! One minute total newspapers, I helped make sure what strangers, and the next, a closely bonded they learned from these media was cor- support group. When they found out my rect and current. I couldn’t turn away, I was at La Guardia [in New York], expertise was television and children, and I didn’t want to turn away. This waiting to board my plane home, they asked for advice on not traumatiz- could be the biggest event of my journal- when we got the incredible news ing the kids. ism career, I thought. in bits and pieces. Suddenly everyone In my overnight stay with the family, I really connected with all of them,

32 S EPTEMBER 11, 2001 NINA BARNETT(2)

Above: “Missing” signs were everywhere — thousands covered walls, bus shelters, phone booths, every surface. Left: Looking south from Sixth and Lexington, the World Trade Center used to be directly ahead. It’s still unbelievable — the New York City sky- line is tattooed on my brain. The WTC is like a severed limb you still sense is there. — N.B. including the delightful fourteen-year-old found my way to my relatives. I will daughter (whom I tried to recruit for never forget my new friends, their kind- On September 11, I was in Chevy UW), the wonderful grandmother (with ness, and the silver lining it demonstrates whom I had so much in common), and about the tragedy of September 11. Chase, Maryland, reviewing vacci- the charming nephew, who guided me — Joanne Cantor, professor nation research proposals for the through the subway to make sure I emerita of communication arts National Institutes of Health. But I was hoping to return to Madison that night — my twin sons, Ben and Ty, would At 4:48 p.m. Cairo time on September 11, preparing to attend a have their sixteenth birthdays on the research-related evening meeting downtown, I got a call on my mobile phone from twelfth. a fellow graduate student here that a plane had struck the World Trade Center. I Of course, by the end of the morn- stepped onto my ninth-floor balcony and for the second time in a decade, looked north ing, transportation was paralyzed — around D.C. and across the country. along the Nile to Cairo’s identically named shopping and business complex, the World I spent the night of the eleventh Trade Center, and said “Where? I can’t see anything.” He further explained it was with my sister in Baltimore, trying to New York that had been hit, and that a few people we knew were gathering at another figure out a way to get home to my sons. American friend’s home to watch CNN. The next day, I called a cab to take me I am in the middle of conducting field research for a PhD in sociocultural anthro- to the bus station so I could try my luck pology at New York University. As a white European-American with light features, getting on a Madison-bound Grey- I physically stand out as obviously foreign in the Cairo landscape. Since the WTC- hound. As we rode over, the cabby Pentagon attacks, I have received sympathetic words from strangers on the street, offered to drive me home for $400. I in banks, restaurants, newspaper stands, and grocery stores. Those I know and love, asked if he was serious, and he said yes, Egyptian colleagues and friends from all over the country, called immediately to make that he had family in Lansing, Michi- sure my family and loved ones were safe in the United States. I wish I could hear the gan, and after the attacks, he just same about the treatment of Arabs and Muslims in the U.S. wanted to stop in and see them. So we — Elizabeth A. Smith ’91, Cairo, Egypt took off.

R EFLECTION, REACTION, RESPONSE 33 Thirteen and a half hours later, we I was sitting in a dentist’s chair provide support to people who were pulled up to my house. I happily paid when I heard that the first plane grounded at the airport, and so on. him the $400, plus extra for gas and a had struck the World Trade Center, Once Dane County’s plans were big tip. organized, I met with university staff and I was just kind of stunned. When the — James Gern, to decide on the UW’s emergency plan. second hit, I said, “Uh-oh, I have to go,” professor of pediatrics It seemed that everyone in town was and headed into the office to help field glued to the TV but us — I was so calls. At 9:30, I went to the Dane County busy, I didn’t see footage of the planes emergency operations center, where pub- My initial reaction to the attack crashing or the buildings falling until lic officials were putting together their Thursday night. was one of denial and confusion. emergency response — deciding whether I did not want to have to explain the school should stay in session, how to — Sue Riseling, UW police chief day’s events to my students. After all, I am in many ways of the same young, naive lot as these high-school juniors. Editor’s note: Law Professor Walter Dickey ’68, JD’71 lost his brother, Joseph ’72, in the What do I know about war? Suddenly attacks on the World Trade Center. He immediately left Madison for New York on Septem- the reality of growing up in a small, Wis- ber 11 and spent the remaining week there. He wrote the following letter to colleagues and consin town made it feel as if I had been friends after returning to campus, and later gave us permission to share it. Students from terribly sheltered. What made this attack the Law School made an $11,000 contribution in Joseph Dickey’s honor to the Uniformed so frightening was that neither I nor our Firefighters Association Widows and Children’s Fund to assist the families of the eleven country’s leadership knew who our ene- firefighters from the Dickeys’ old neighborhood firehouse who died in rescue efforts. mies are or when exactly they would My brother, Joseph, was on the 105th floor of Building One of the World strike. My fears were simply not enough Trade Center on September 11 when a plane struck the building immediately to keep me from discussing this with my below his office. My family gathered in New York during the past week in hope students. This had a teachable moment of a miracle and to gather strength during this difficult time. I have had many that could not be ignored. — Kathryn Stower ’01, thoughts and feelings flood me during the past week, and I would like to share student teacher, eleventh-grade a few of them with you. history, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin Joe was a hard-working, dedicated family man who devoted himself to his wife and children. He was generous and kind and touched warmly all who came to know him. He had friends wherever he went and will be remembered by all who knew him as an honest and decent man. Joe graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1972 and visited Madison a couple of times a year. He had nothing but the most fond NINA BARNETT memories of Madison and his time here. On the day before he died, he participated in a golf outing organized by firefighters with whom we grew up in our old neighborhood in the Bronx. When he got home, he remarked to his wife, Irene, and son, Joseph, and daughter, Lizzie, at the camaraderie which existed among these firefighters. He also noted that the day was organized as inexpensively as possible, so that the maximum amount of money could be raised for the disabled child of the firefighter for whom the outing was organized. A precipitating event that led my father to leave Belfast as a young man was also an act of terrorism, when his home was burned down. He and my mother were deeply grateful, as immigrants, for the opportunities and freedom they were afforded in this country. As I walked around New York during the past week and saw the people of so many colors and national origins, many of whom lost loved ones at the World Trade Center, I could not help but think that these people share the same feelings of gratitude, freedom, and patriotism as my father felt and which the Dickey family shares. On behalf of the Dickey family, I want to thank everyone who has been

A security officer comforts a stranger near thinking of us at this difficult time. the Armory. The world is finally seeing what — Walter J. Dickey, professor of law New Yorkers have always known — we are wonderfully and unhesitatingly courageous, generous, kind people with attitude! — N.B.

34 S EPTEMBER 11, 2001 September 11 brought new worries — and an unexpected opportunity — for UW-Madison’s followers of Islam. JEFF MILLER

BY MICHAEL PENN MA’97 or one irrational, indescribable, insane moment on the afternoon F of September 11, while people grappled with fears about terrorism and national security, Ayman Kotob had a more elemental problem. He was afraid to enter his apartment. Like most everyone during those first harrowing hours after the terrorist attacks, Kotob had been banging discordantly through the full scale of emotions. A sophomore who was born in California but grew up in Kuwait, he felt the horror of watching footage of the attacks. There was the adrenalized panic that the attacks might not yet be over. There was the worry that the perpetrators might be Muslim, like him. There was anguish about the ocean that separated him from his parents. There was the tone of caution that tempted him to swallow his thoughts, lest he be labeled as pro-terrorist or anti-Ameri- can. There was the unexpected relief of having a lecture hall full of students applaud him when he did finally try to articulate his feelings. Disgrace and gratefulness churned around like oil and water, creating that numbness and confusion that come when the data don’t add up.

Student Ayman Kotob takes a moment to pray on Bascom Hill between classes. Few passersby may have noticed the religious expressions of Muslim students before, but the interest in Islam is now at a peak.

R EFLECTION, REACTION, RESPONSE 35 And there was fear. When Kotob dant falsely accused. But just as the jus- inquisitiveness, asking probing questions returned to his apartment that afternoon, tice system gives the innocent a chance about concepts like the fatwa and jihad, the door stood slightly ajar — leaving for defense, the events of September 11 the vexing new vocabulary of our politi- just enough space for his imagination to have created a perverse opportunity — a cal dialogue (see sidebar, page 39). They fill in all kinds of scenarios for why it stage for educating a suddenly receptive heard straightforward answers from wasn’t closed. Someone’s in the apart- public about the tenets and customs of people such as Joe Elder, a professor ment, someone’s waiting to do something Islam and its followers, what they are, of sociology who was born in Tehran and to me, he thought. Although he hesitated and what they aren’t. has lived in Afghanistan; David Morgan, only for a moment, the day’s events had Before September 11, for example, who has researched the origins and made him wary of backlash. many people probably never noticed the history of the Taliban; and Charles “I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is going white stucco building behind Taco Hirschkind, who has spent the past few to hurt us so much. This is going to hurt John’s on North Orchard Street that years in Egypt listening to audiotapes of Muslims,’ ” Kotob says. “I’m kind of houses Madison’s Islamic Center and a the Qur’an and other Islamic texts to angry at myself for thinking that, mosque for campus-area Muslims. understand how Islam is communicated because this is not Islam that I thought When the directors held an open house in the Middle East. that. This was me as a human being.” there last year, seven people attended. It was a night for administrators to As campus percolated through those But following the attacks, non-Muslims relish, because very few universities in first few days, many Muslim students began to turn up at the Friday noontime the United States could match the experienced similar worries. In the congregational prayer, when it is obliga- breadth of experience on the panel. month following the tragedies, campus tory for all Muslims to pray at a “This is certainly as large, if not a larger, officials collected anecdotal evidence of mosque. Someone posted a large sign on nucleus of people than I think you could fifteen instances of harassment against the door, expressing the neighborhood’s find anywhere in the United States,” says foreign and supposedly foreign-looking support and solidarity. The center’s Charles Cohen, UW’s director of reli- students. Despite more-numerous most recent open house, held a month gious studies, who organized the event. demonstrations of kindness and support, after the attacks, drew more than six And, in another irony of September those reports were enough to put UW- hundred visitors. 11, the teach-in also represented a com- Madison’s Muslim community on guard. “People are being more open about ing-out party, of sorts, because at least “A lot of us weren’t going anywhere Islam and are questioning a lot more three of the panelists wouldn’t have been alone,” says Hiba Bashir, a senior. “We about Islam than they used to,” says Asif there — and the panel might not have always went in groups, for fear that Sheikh x’03, president of UW-Madison’s convened at all — if the university had something would happen to us if we Muslim Students Association, which has not been in the midst of building up its were alone.” Along with the doubt and about two hundred members. “Unfortu- resources in Islam and Middle Eastern worry brought on by terrorism, Muslims nately, you can say that it’s [a] good history. Religious studies didn’t exist as felt the doubt and worry of counterter- [thing about September 11].” an official major until this fall. As rorism, that they and their religion had The university, too, has seized the recently as four years ago, the school’s suddenly been cut from the herd of opportunity, putting on a medley of Middle Eastern studies program was so American experience and were now events, panels, and discussions. The first understaffed that Michael Chamberlain, being scrutinized. of those, a teach-in on Islam held eight in one of his first acts as director, recom- “September 11 for us was a kind of days after the attacks, featured ten mended disbanding it. “We’ve gone double jeopardy,” notes Ahmed Ali, faculty, as well as two scholars from the pretty quickly from a position of relative director of Madison’s Islamic Center, community, with expertise in Muslim weakness to one of relative strength,” “because not only are we suffering per- traditions and cultures. It was attended says Chamberlain. “And I think we all sonally to cope with those horrible acts, by nearly seven hundred people, who feel pretty fortunate for that now.” but Islam is on trial because of them.” quickly filled the seats of the Humanities For anyone who knows Islam — and Building lecture hall and spilled over into harles Cohen is a Jew and a thus knows the futility of trying to color the aisles. The mood during the nearly native New Yorker, which in the the attacks in shades of mainstream three-hour talk reminded some on the C wake of the World Trade Cen- Islam — the notion of the world’s second panel of the days before the Vietnam ter’s collapse could make him an unlikely most-practiced religion on trial may be War, when serious-minded people came watchdog for the sanctity of Islam and intensely frustrating. The 99 percent of together to talk about a part of the world Muslims. He is also an expert on colonial the world’s one billion Muslims who lead many knew little about. British North America and early Ameri- peaceful lives and abhor violence should The crowd, which ranged from can religious history, which has made be evidence enough that Islam is a defen- students to retirees, came with a spirit of him familiar with the Salem witch trials,

36 S EPTEMBER 11, 2001 and the ugliness that often has ensued Some blame the relative absence of lims, especially those in the Middle East, when communities act to protect them- Islamic studies in universities on West- is one of poverty, drought, illiteracy, and selves from those they consider enemies. ern biases and ignorance. Islam is a political isolation — conditions that don’t With the smoke still heavy over Manhat- global religion practiced from Indiana to usually nurture a self-confident expres- tan, Cohen picked up the phone and Indonesia, and easily the fastest growing sion of civil society, and which also may started calling colleagues, hoping to religion in the United States by percent- help fanatics like Osama bin Laden gain disseminate information about Islam he ages, but it has been shackled in the past power. As Umar Faruq Abd-Allah, an thought the community wanted and by a perception that it is archaic and Islamic scholar from Chicago, noted needed — and to try to keep local anti-intellectual. That is a false premise, aptly at the teach-in, “Monstrous condi- Muslims from becoming victims of a says Muhammad Memon, who teaches tions create monstrous people.” Salem-like hunt for blame. the UW’s introductory Islam course, and The absence of a strong tradition of “We should have done it, we had to one that is perpetuated by pop-culture scholarship in Islam, especially in the do it. That’s what we’re here for,” Cohen imagery of only the extremist factions of West, exacerbates problems by making it says of the teach-in. “It’s the place of the Muslim life. “Where do you see Arabs?” more difficult for mainstream Muslims to religious studies program to teach people repudiate extremists and keep their faith about religion, and in this case, Islam.” Now, Muslims are talking from being hijacked by political agendas. It is perhaps unusual that the univer- The concept of jihad, for example, is sity didn’t have a formal religious studies about how they can reach rarely interpreted fully or accurately in major until this fall; it was, in fact, the public deliberations. The word, literally most popular among the College of Let- out across broad gaps of Arabic for “struggle,” has layers of mean- ters and Science’s custom-designed majors language and culture. ing, including how one might describe a for more than a decade. There were sev- woman in labor or the terms one would eral dozen faculty on campus who taught “You can actually see use for a personal quest. Radical groups subjects related to religion, but nothing such as Al-Qaeda or Egypt’s Islamic brought them together as colleagues until the beginnings of Islamic Jihad would have Americans believe 1997, when Cohen sought to reinvigorate civil society being built that all Muslims subscribe to a predes- the program, which had languished for tined holy war against the West — a more than two decades. When the here in America.” notion that Western media often repeat university began its interdisciplinary compliantly. Those factions prey on the hiring efforts that same year, Cohen saw he asks. “Only in caricatures.” Even the relative vacuum of reasoned dialogue, the chance to bring in a core group of characterization of the Muslim defini- where mainstream Muslim views are professors who could improve coverage tively as an Arab is misleading, since rarely aired and refined. of the world’s religious traditions, expand 80 percent of the world’s Muslims live Islam, full of such razor-fine distinc- the expertise available to students, and outside the Middle East. tions, is made to be studied, deliberated, integrate all those disparate areas of Indeed, the formidable intellectual argued, and turned over. There are legiti- expertise into a coherent curriculum. heritage of Islam is generally poorly mate questions about where Islam ends Most religious studies departments acknowledged. For the last part of the and Islamic culture begins. The Qur’an are built around comparative studies of first millennium and the start of the sec- and the life of Muhammad, the Muslim major religions. But as Cohen looked ond, Muslims could legitimately claim to messenger of God, provide a complete around at other universities, Islam be the torch holders of innovation and template for Muslim life, dictating every- clearly stood out as the forgotten faith, progress. Islam produced the world’s thing from how and when a Muslim prays taking a back seat to other traditions leading scientists, mathematicians, archi- to how he or she conducts business or even at leading departments. He realized tects, and artists. Muslims invented alge- dresses. Devout Muslims do not date, that new hires in Islamic studies would bra, our system of numerals, and the drink alcohol, or eat pork. Many men not only help balance the UW’s own concept of zero, and they founded some wear beards, because Muhammad did. expertise, but could actually vault the of the earliest universities, which makes These are examples of the ways in which university to a position of relative superi- Islam’s current low profile in higher Muslims seek to mimic the path to ority on the subject. “It was very striking education all the more perplexing. enlightenment followed by Muhammad. that of the major world religions, Islam For many reasons, not the least of In this way, Islam is both a theology and a was the least well-represented across the which is a legacy of Western colonialism, set of laws that can be expressed by an board,” he says. “In at least one or two the past few centuries have seen a slide Islamic government. [large university programs], there was in the intellectual prowess associated But other practices common in some nothing on Islam at all.” with Islam. Reality today for many Mus- Islamic states, such as the subjugation of

R EFLECTION, REACTION, RESPONSE 37 the tile floor, they took turns cleansing

JEFF MILLER themselves for prayer. Each washed his right hand first, wiping water up to his wrist three times, then did the same for the left. Next, each gargled water in his mouth three times, and then snuffed water in his nose three times. The pat- tern continued as they attended to their faces, arms, ears, and feet, passing water over each three times. Their hands, mov- ing quickly into and out of the faucet stream, created a water ballet of rhythm and motion that was, to someone not accustomed to seeing it, mesmerizing. To those who don’t follow it, Islam may appear a demanding faith. Muslims pray five times daily. The ritual washing, known as wudhu, always follows the same order and pattern. Prayers are recited in Arabic, no matter the worshippers’ native tongue. Muslims are bound to follow the Sunnah, a code of behavior dictated by the life of Muhammad. It is After September 11, a few Islamic scholars advised American Muslim women to abandon tradition these unwavering methods that have led and not cover their heads in public, fearing that they would be easy targets for backlash. Senior Hiba Bashir, at center, above, says she never considered changing her dress. “I don’t want to have people to predict the demise of Islam for to relinquish my Muslim identity just so people can see that I’m American,” she says. fourteen hundred years, dating to when Muhammad and his followers were women, are not Qur’anic in origin, but Morgan and Hirschkind, along with two persecuted by Meccan society and cast cultural. It takes expertise to know the scholars of Theravada Buddhism and out into the Arabian desert. difference. East Asian religious philosophy. A second Islam has survived not on its symbols, “A lot of what people understand the wave, under way now, will further bolster but on the principles that underlie the religion to be is based on what happens in both Middle Eastern and religious studies symbols. The wudhu, for example, isn’t some Islamic countries,” says Hiba Bashir, by recruiting an expert on the Qur’an about getting clean, although cleanliness who was born in Milwaukee to Sudanese and a political scientist with experience in is important. “You could take a shower parents. “It’s hard for people who aren’t Islamic law and government. for that,” says Abdus Samed-Zawtaw, Muslim to make the distinction between Chamberlain calls the teach-in the one of the men in the mosque that day. cultural practices and the religion.” “first payoff” on the university’s invest- (Muslim men and women pray in sepa- Bashir became one of the first ment. But he’s more anxious to see the rate spaces.) “It’s about putting your students to declare a religious studies new experts go to work breaking down mind in the consciousness of God. The major in part because she wanted to the stereotypes and misinformation that prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, understand those lines better herself. exist about Muslim culture. Chamberlain was always in the consciousness of God. “When people would ask me questions is eyeing a program to get curricula on We believe he was a perfected human about the role of women in Islam, I did- Islamic history and traditions into state being. But we are not perfected. We need n’t really have good answers or concrete schools, where some of those prejudices these steps to bring ourselves into the examples to give them,” she says. incubate. “That,” he says, “will be the proper frame of mind for prayer.” Similarly, Asif Sheikh says he has second payoff.” Like Catholics who say Hail Marys learned more about Islam in three years or Buddhists who meditate, Muslims in the United States than he ever did n a Friday in early October, I adhere to these practices because they growing up in Pakistan. “The fundamen- stood in the basement of the believe that in practice is perfection. And tal principles of this country allow for O Islamic Center and watched a that quest for the ideal will bear signifi- that kind of experience,” he says. group of young men prepare themselves cantly on UW-Madison, as Muslims And that’s where the UW’s new hires for God. Huddled around a wash basin, renew their desire to reflect and explain come in. The first wave of hiring brought their bare feet curled against the chill of their faith. “People are knocking on our

38 S EPTEMBER 11, 2001 door, trying to wake us up,” Ahmed Ali told the congregation at the mosque that day. “We have to react.” The next decade may witness an unprecedented examina- TERMS OF tion of Islam, not only by curious non- Muslims, but by Muslims who want to take a more active role in understanding ISLAM and expressing their identity. The language of Islam is Arabic, In the past, American Muslims may the rich and complex tongue of have found it difficult to communicate Muhammad. Muslims around the their common experiences, because on world often greet people with the the surface they have so little in common. Arabic expression Assalamu Followers of Islam in the United States alaikum, meaning “peace be with make up an amazingly diverse commu- you.” When one speaks of Muham- nity, representing at least sixty different mad or other prophets (from Adam nationalities and all manner of socioeco- to Jesus), it is customary to add, nomic levels. Now, Muslims are talking Sallallahu ’alaihi wa sallam, or about how they can reach out across “peace be upon him.” broad gaps of language and culture. “You Arabic terms such as jihad and fatwa are complex and often can actually see the beginnings of Islamic misinterpreted. Jihad, sometimes translated as “holy war,” is more civil society being built here in America,” commonly believed to be a struggle or an act of diligence. Although says Sheikh. jihad can signify an act of self-defense, most Islamic scholars repudiate With the benefit of a large interna- any connection between jihad and acts of aggression. tional community and on-hand experts, Fatwas are legal opinions, issued by someone considered an expert UW-Madison is poised to emerge as a in Islamic laws, about what behaviors are consistent with Islam. locus for Muslims who have a desire to Because there is no formal process for becoming an “expert,” a fatwa gain an academic understanding of their may be put forth by reputable scholars or extremist militants, and religion, its culture, and its history — as often those fatwas are contradictory. They’re often weightless. well as a place where non-Muslims find Allah is simply the Arabic word for God. Muslims worship the same honest interpretations of Islamic faith God as Christians and Jews, although they do not share the Christian and politics. “One of the obvious ways to belief that Jesus was the son of God. do that is for students to take classes on Islam and how it relates to society,” says Cohen. “And we will have them.” should have worried about the victims that is so beautiful, that is so just, that One of those students will be Ayman and their families, not himself. On his seeks prosperity for all. I thought if our Kotob, who says that September 11 and path to Mecca, fear was only a detour. Prophet, peace be upon him, were here, its aftermath have “awakened” him. He Once in his apartment, Kotob turned what would he do? His teachings have says, provocatively, his ideal is to be an on his computer to look at pictures of the been so distorted. I just started crying, Islamic fundamentalist. “Not in the way smoking shell of the Trade Center tow- thinking this is not what Islam teaches, the American media describes it,” he ers. He put on headphones and began lis- it’s not what Islam wants.” hastens to add, “but to return to the tening to verses of the Qur’an. Muslims Two weeks later, as we sat on the Ter- beautiful fundamentals of this religion. believe that the Qur’an was recited to race, Kotob looked out at the water and We have totally forgotten our roots.” Muhammad by the angel Gabriel, and said, “You know, Islam is like a stream. Fundamentalism to him represents a therefore to listen to it, as spoken poetry, At its source, it’s so pristine, so clear, and focus on peace, charity, and enlighten- is one of the most deeply religious expe- so beautiful. But as it flows down, you ment — the very things the perpetrators riences one can have. Kotob sat there, have other rivers coming into it. People sought to extinguish. It’s the fundamen- stunned by the lyrical intonations in his start polluting it. It becomes distorted. talism that makes him ashamed of the ears and the grisly scenes before his eyes. We as Muslims need to speak out and to knee-jerk pity he felt for himself and fel- He heard God, and he saw evil. Tears be the leaders in the struggle against low Muslims on the day of the attacks. began to roll down his cheeks. oppression and cruelty. It’s our duty. There was no one waiting to hurt him in “So many innocent lives lost,” he “This,” he said, “is our jihad.” his apartment. His roommate had simply says. “And there was no justification. It forgotten to close the door. He says he was supposedly in the name of a religion Michael Penn is senior editor of On Wisconsin.

R EFLECTION, REACTION, RESPONSE 39 How does a nation win a war against terrorism? One crucial step is to get into the minds of terrorists to figure out what might deter them from acting. Physicist Jay Davis PhD’69 has aided the federal government by “playing terrorist” with top U.S. officials.

by John Allen violent political change. We neither trust any government nor are trusted in Imagine for a moment that you head the return. Many of our activities are illegal, military for a large nation. You have a so we operate in secret, moving from one wealthy citizenry with commercial inter- nation to another, looking for the most ests stretching around the globe, and favorable conditions in which to prose- your powerful army is well equipped and cute our revolution. highly trained. This combination of guns Your goal is to maintain a stable envi- and money gives you a great deal of influ- ronment at home and abroad so that During his tenure as director of the ence in diplomatic circles and involves your trade can flourish and your citizens Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Davis’s work helped to enforce arms control you in other countries’ internal politics. can pursue happiness. treaties in an effort to lower the risk of Then, let’s say I’m a revolutionary, a I want to create enough instability so nuclear terrorism and war. Among the fiery orator who leads a small group of mementos he picked up during that time that governments such as yours are was this model of an SS24 rocket — a gift devoted followers in an effort to force unable to prevent the change I desire. of the Ukrainian minister of defense.

40 S EPTEMBER 11, 2001 You see me as an enemy of the peace; Davis is no stranger to crippled the physics and astronomy I see you as a corrupting, stifling influ- terrorism. He had his first run-in departments and badly damaged the ence and an enemy to my cause. with political violence more than thirty particle accelerator. It also killed Robert What is that cause? It doesn’t much years ago, while he was still living in Fassnacht, one of Davis’s fellow physics matter. What does matter is the means Madison. postdocs. through which I pursue it. I’ve read He had come to the UW to study In the weeks that followed, Davis Jefferson, so I know that the tree of nuclear physics, but when he received and his colleagues worked long hours liberty must be refreshed from time to his degree, that field was stuck in some- combing through the wreckage, attempt- time with the blood of patriots and thing of a recession. “We’d all been ing to recover as much material as they tyrants. And I’ve read Robespierre, so I trained to be professors,” he says, “but could. By the beginning of December, know that pity is treason. I don’t value 1969 saw the first real crash in scientific they had the accelerator back on line. my own life very much; I value yours funding in the U.S. The economic stress The physics department would receive a even less. of the Vietnam War was ending a lot of commendation for its recovery efforts, I am a terrorist. scientific programs at universities.” but the bombing had left its mark on So here’s the challenge: how do you Unable to find a faculty job, Davis Davis. One of his friends was dead, sev- keep me from killing your citizens, became a postdoctoral fellow for the eral others would leave the UW without destroying your property, and spreading Atomic Energy Commission, working on finishing their doctorates, and his major fear? the particle accelerator in UW-Madison’s professor, Henry Barschall, would never I’ll admit that I make the question Sterling Hall. take on another graduate student. particularly difficult by withholding any specific information about my ter- rorist movement. Since you don’t know much about me, you can’t really negoti- “We were an accidental target. The bombers ate with me. But when, in the wake of didn’t aim for the physics department as such. They the September 11 attacks, President meant to hit the Army Mathematics Research Center, Bush declared war, it wasn’t against a terrorist specifically, but against terrorism which was in Sterling Hall’s upper floors. We were in general. The enemy isn’t an individ- just collateral damage — which doesn’t really ual or a nation or even a political make you feel much better.” movement. It’s a method of action — a concept. And how does one successfully fight a concept? “That,” says Jay Davis PhD’69, But if the Vietnam War was stifling “I’ve had a serious emotional “is still an open question.” scientific careers, it was also fueling tie to counterterrorism ever since,” For Davis, this sort of role-playing student unrest. Through 1969 and 1970, says Davis. has real-life consequences. He’s a violent protests escalated at the UW, That tie would grow slowly stronger national security fellow at the Center from demonstrations to riots, from brick- over the following years. When Davis for Global Security Studies, an arm bats to Molotov cocktails. Then, in the left Madison in 1971, it was to join the of the Lawrence Livermore National early morning hours of August 24, 1970, staff of Lawrence Livermore. There he Laboratory, one of the nation’s leading four Madisonians — Karl and Dwight developed his research and managerial nuclear science — and nuclear weapons Armstrong, David Fine, and Leo Burt — skills and designed accelerator facilities. — labs. The center examines ways in detonated a truck bomb in front of In an effort to re-create the collaborative, which technology and international Sterling Hall. team-oriented atmosphere of the UW- policy intersect, and since long before “We were an accidental target,” says Madison physics department, he helped September 11, Davis and his colleagues Davis. “The bombers didn’t aim for the to found the Center for Accelerator Mass have been studying the now-urgent physics department as such. They meant Spectrometry, which serves the research questions of how to deter terrorists and to hit the Army Mathematics Research programs at Livermore and at the nine other threats to stability around the Center, which was in Sterling Hall’s campuses of the University of California. world. It’s a problem that requires upper floors. We were just collateral His work has contributed to studies in strategists who are well versed in damage — which doesn’t really make biomedicine, geochemistry, materials politics and military tactics, but who you feel much better.” science, and arms control. need to think scientifically and philo- The bomb did little harm to the Davis grew in prominence through sophically as well. Mathematics Research Center, but it the 1980s and served as a science adviser

R EFLECTION, REACTION, RESPONSE 41 to the U.N. Secretariat, several U.S. able effort goes into expanding the idea question of how to deter terrorists. agencies, and the governments of Aus- of deterrence to something larger than Currently, the center is finishing a year- tralia and New Zealand, often on arms the nuclear concepts.” long study of what the country can do to control issues. “Although I’ve never been In 1998, the Department of Defense deter future threats. “We had been doing a weapons designer,” says Davis, “I’d called on Davis to help work on the that before the events of September 11,” certainly know one if I tripped over it in problem of making an increasingly he says, “but the motivation sure got the dark.” complicated world less dangerous. He stronger.” In the time since the attacks, When the fighting ended in the Gulf became the founding director of a new several of his colleagues have been War in 1991, he was named to the sec- combat support outfit, the Defense called in to the Pentagon to aid with ond team that the U.N. Special Commis- Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), planning, and Davis says he expects that sion on Iraq sent to investigate that which has been described as America’s he, too, will be asked to contribute ideas. nation’s plans to develop weapons of “Anti-Doomsday Agency.” DTRA offers The question of how best to deter mass destruction (WMD). During a sur- scientific assistance and advice to the terrorists is not merely academic. prise inspection at Al Fallujah, outside military and the government to help According to Davis, leaving the ques- Baghdad, his team nearly did trip over reduce the danger of attacks using tion unanswered could become increas- a nuclear weapons facility. There they weapons of mass destruction. During ingly catastrophic: “Use of both nuclear turned up evidence that would ultimately the nearly three years that Davis and biological weapons is a logical force Iraq to admit that it had secretly directed the agency, he led efforts to endpoint for a terrorist who wishes to violated the terms of the nuclear non- create technologies and strategies to attack a civilization.” proliferation treaty. counter terrorist devices and to support a civilian and military response should Davis, then, is the sort of person As Davis and his colleagues chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons who can offer his experience were searching for WMD in Iraq, ever be used against American targets. as we try to find a realistic answer to our the U.S. Department of Defense was As part of this work, “I got to play question: how do you, a large, powerful working to adapt to changing rules in the terrorist,” he says. “One of the difficul- nation, keep me, a determined terrorist, game of global security. During the Cold ties Americans have is getting their from spreading destruction and War, the country had followed a working heads into the minds of the other guy.” upheaval? strategy to deter conflict — one based on So he worked with high officials in the Deterring me with the threat of the doctrine of “mutually assured Departments of Defense and Justice to military force is one option. After all, destruction,” or MAD. The key to the examine the question of what the U.S. you’ve got a large army — why not strategy was maintaining a large nuclear might do to effectively convince terror- make use of it, as a threat, if not in actu- arsenal, so that, were the U.S. attacked, ists from various cultures not to attack. ality? You could attempt to dissuade me it could respond with a nuclear strike so DTRA’s work also aided the coun- from engaging in terrorism by saying devastating that the attacking nation’s try’s emergency plans for containing the you’ll wage war against the country in victory would be rendered meaningless. damage of terrorist strikes. In TOPOFF, which I’m taking refuge. But such a MAD concept must nec- a May 2000 exercise, DTRA offered But, says Davis, conventional mili- essarily come to an end. The doctrine advice to top officials in federal, state, tary response may not provide the most worked only when there was a balance and local governments as they worked effective deterrent. The threat of military of power between two primary oppo- out what they would do if terrorists force may work against an established nents. The collapse of the Soviet Union released a chemical, biological, or nation, he says, but its deterrent effect left the U.S. without a credible rival, nuclear threat in an urban center. The “particularly evaporates in the case of putting America’s nuclear force in a exercise, according to congressional transnational terrorist groups, which doubtful position as far as deterrence is testimony, “graphically demonstrated the have no territory or assets to defend, and concerned. Nuclear arms are too terrible shortcomings of the federal govern- which don’t really care about the safety to use against any enemy except one that ment’s organizational structure” when it of the population that surrounds them.” poses a nuclear threat, and over the last came to dealing with WMD, and led to In other words, if I’m not too decade, the nation’s adversaries have recommendations for improvement. attached to the people or things near me, increasingly been small states and ter- In July 2001, Davis returned to a threat to destroy them isn’t likely to rorist groups. If they know that the U.S. Livermore and the Center for Global factor into my decision-making process. won’t use its nuclear arsenal, then those Security Research so that he could Further, the introduction of military weapons lose their effectiveness as a pursue his scientific work. But he’s still force into my region may serve to deterrent. Now, says Davis, “consider- looking for the best answer to the weaken local governments, endangering

42 S EPTEMBER 11, 2001 stability, which was my goal all along. hijack airplanes and bring down the By looking closely at the values Can you be certain that your use of World Trade Center, the district attor- behind terrorist movements, a govern- force won’t aid me in the long run? ney would have tossed you out of court.” ment may be able to discover the kind of Another option is to beef up your In the recent past, successfully policies that might dissuade those move- intelligence — to discover my plans and preempted terrorists have proved to be ments from acting. “A government can disrupt them. In the weeks following a legal challenge. When the so-called issue, not necessarily a threat, but a September 11, some officials and media Millennium Bomber, Ahmed Ressam, political statement,” Davis says. “For instance, our government has a policy against assassinations. This isn’t the same Asking valid questions about which policies will and as a policy against targeting individuals.” The former would be a political murder; won’t work is the first step in developing a long-term the latter is a military operation in strategy, one that can address the larger concept of which the objective isn’t to destroy an stopping terrorism as well as the more immediate armed force or installation, but rather to capture or kill a specific person. It’s a concern of stopping specific terrorists. fine distinction, but on such threads hangs international law. “A valid ques- tion to ask is, would announcing such critics asked why the U.S. intelligence was captured traveling from British a policy — either targeting terrorists community hadn’t been able to discover Columbia to Port Angeles, Washington, themselves or the heads of state of the the plotters and preempt their attacks. in December 1999, he had with him countries that shelter them — serve as a Former President Bill Clinton, for all the implements necessary to make deterrent in the culture of one or more instance, suggested that there might a sizable bomb, which authorities terrorist groups?” have been an “intelligence breakdown” discovered was intended to blow up This appears to form part of the strat- and that “there will come a time when Los Angeles International Airport. egy that President Bush has laid out in we will want to have an impartial But even though Ressam had been recent months — targeting Osama bin inquiry into that whole question.” Will caught red-handed, his trial was no Laden and other “most wanted” terror- you use your spies to catch me before I slam-dunk. The judge found that evi- ists. Davis points out that the Israeli make any mischief? dence gathered by Canada’s Security Defense Force has followed a similar Preemption seems to offer the best Intelligence Service didn’t meet U.S. policy of targeting individuals, especially hope of good results — after all, if it’s standards for due process, damaging the during the latest Intifada. However, successful, none of your people get hurt. prosecution’s case. And though Ressam Israel’s experience has not led to unquali- But preemption is also the most difficult was ultimately convicted in April 2001, fied success. Not only has it sparked option. There’s the practical question of authorities have failed to decide on a international criticism — including con- how, in a large world with many differ- proper punishment. His sentencing has demnation from the U.S. government — ent countries, one could hope to keep an been delayed until 2002. but it doesn’t seem to have done much to eye on — and stay a step ahead of — So if preempting me is hazy, both deter terrorism within Israel’s borders. different terrorist groups. And then logistically and legally, and if the threat Still, asking valid questions about there are philosophical issues. of broad military force is too ham-fisted which policies will and won’t work is “Preemption poses an intellectual to be an effective deterrent, Davis sug- the first step in developing a long-term problem as well as operational prob- gests that you may have to get creative strategy, one that can address the larger lems,” says Davis. Even if one success- in thinking of ways to convince me not concept of stopping terrorism as well as fully prevents a strike, it’s difficult to to attack. the more immediate concern of stopping know how to prosecute captured terror- “When I met with government lead- specific terrorists. Throughout his ists for crimes that they’re kept from ers [to talk about addressing terrorist career, Davis has been helping to raise committing. threats], I was sort of naive,” he says. those questions. The September 11 attacks make “Here I was, with my science back- “The danger,” he says, “is that a perfect case in point. “Say you’d ground, thinking that there would be a we’ve become real good at asking the grabbed these guys at the airport,” says technological solution. But we had to questions. We haven’t come up with a Davis. “If you’d hauled them before a get into social studies” — that is, they lot of the answers.” judge and claimed that, with a collection had to examine the psychology and of razor blades, they were going to culture of terrorism. John Allen is associate editor of On Wisconsin.

R EFLECTION, REACTION, RESPONSE 43