LONDON — The director general of the British Security Services (MI5) has been telling the world that there are at least 2,000 people inside Britain who are involved in terrorism-related activities, and there may be many more. Or to put it crudely, there are at least 2,000 individuals bent on killing innocent Britons as they go about their daily business.
What can be done about this? Can a free society ever protect itself against determined bombers — especially the suicide variety — and still stay free?
The answer is "only to a very limited extent." Free means open, and open means exposed and vulnerable to anyone who walks into the street, the shop, the railway station, the airport or the market, or anywhere where people congregate, armed and ready to kill and blow himself or herself up in the process.