Three widely different areas that are vulnerable to terrorism have been in the news of late.

The Internet could be rendered unusable if only 4 percent of its nodes were shut down, reported AP science writer Matthew Fordahl on July 27. The Internet is an interconnected web of computers spanning the globe. Like a blocked human blood vessel can be bypassed to keep needed blood moving, information will circumnavigate blocked nodes for the most part.

However, the Internet relies on a few key nodes that are so highly connected that they cannot be bypassed. Should those key points be attacked by terrorists, the entire World Wide Web could be shut down. Nothing like that has happened yet, although a number of relatively minor acts of criminal sabotage have occurred. CNN.com, Yahoo! and Amazon.com have all come under attack.

These essential nodes are scattered around the world and are generally in highly secure areas-but nothing can be totally secure. All it takes is enough money to finance a major assault on the Internet to bring it down. Fordahl's article was a summary of a University of Notre Dame study on the susceptibility of the Internet to terrorist attack reported on in the journal Nature.

In an area more commonly thought of when one hears the word terrorist, the Middle East must concern itself with what the Stratfor Global Intelligence Service calls "a new terrorist dynamic." For years, the Hezbollah guerrillas, sponsored by Iran, have attacked the Israelis in Lebanon. Since the Israelis have now pulled out of Lebanon, there are indications that Hezbollah is linking up with the Hamas-the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement.

Arms traffic and strategic coordination between the two terrorist groups signifies the likelihood of coordinated violent operations against the Israelis in the West Bank. Hamas' ultimate objective, also sponsored by Iran, is the creation of an Islamic state. Their targets are largely civilian.

The threat of violence is a concern in itself. Additionally, Syria wants to forge peace with Israel, and the ability of recently confirmed President Bashar Assad to control the Hezbollah will be an important test of his foreign policy capability.

The third area declared susceptible to terrorism is the U.S. capital. The National Park Service commissioned a counterterrorism study that concluded that Washington, D.C.'s monuments are vulnerable to attack by terrorists. Equally sobering is the study's assessment that the police force responsible for protecting the monuments is ill-equipped to prevent such action.

Millions visit the U.S. capital every year. Entrances to monuments are often left unlocked and unguarded. The U.S. Park Police force is undermanned and underfunded. And the United States enjoys an open and free society. All of these factors, combined with the obvious shock value of targeting Washington, D.C., make it an area of increasing concern to counterterrorist strategists. ( AP, Stratfor.com, The Washington Post. )