se targets with increased security measures. The targeting trend
since at least September 11 has been away from hardened sites, such as
official government facilities with formidable security, and toward
softer targets--schools, restaurants, places of worship, and nodes of
public transportation--where innocent civilians gather and which are
not always well secured. Specific targets vary, but they tend to be
symbolic and often selected because they will produce mass casualties,
economic damage, or both.

While it is impossible to protect completely all potential targets all
the time, we can deter and disrupt attacks, as well as mitigate the
effects of those that do occur, through strategic security improvements
at sites both at home and overseas. Among our most important defensive
efforts is the protection of critical infrastructures and key
resources--sectors such as energy, food and agriculture, water,
telecommunications, public health, transportation, the defense
industrial base, government facilities, postal and shipping, the
chemical industry, emergency services, monuments and icons, information
technology, dams, commercial facilities, banking and finance, and
nuclear reactors, materials, and waste. These are systems and assets so
vital that their destruction or incapacitation would have a
debilitating effect on the security of our Nation. We will also
continue to protect various assets such as historical attractions or
certain highprofile events whose destruction or attack would not
necessarily debilitate our national security but could damage the
morale and confidence of the American people. Beyond the Homeland, we
will continue to protect and defend U.S. citizens, diplomatic missions,
and military facilities overseas, as well as work with our partners to
strengthen their ability to protect their populations and critical
infrastructures.

+Deny WMD to rogue states and terrorist allies who seek to use them+.
Weapons of mass destruction in the hands of terrorists is one of the
gravest threats we face. We have taken aggressive efforts to deny
terrorists access to WMD-related materials, equipment, and expertise,
but we will enhance these activities through an integrated effort at
all levels of government and with the private sector and our foreign
partners to stay ahead of this dynamic and evolving threat. In July
2006, the United States and Russia launched the Global Initiative to
Combat Nuclear Terrorism to establ