Reagan Directive on “Pre-emptive Neutralization” of Terrorists
In 1984, President Reagan ordered the Director of Central Intelligence to develop “capabilities for the pre-emptive neutralization of anti-American terrorist groups which plan, support, or conduct hostile terrorist acts against U.S. citizens, interests, and property overseas.”
The President further ordered the DCI to “develop a clandestine service capability, using all lawful means, for effective response overseas against terrorist acts commmitted against U.S. citizens, facilities, or interests.”
Those instructions were contained in National Security Decision Directive 138, “Combatting Terrorism,” which was issued on April 3, 1984.
A few weeks earlier, Hezbollah forces in Lebanon had kidnapped William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut.
NSDD 138 remained classified for many years and was not fully declassified until two years into the Obama Administration.
“One thing became increasingly clear: AI doesn’t simply introduce a new category of risk. It changes the speed, scale, complexity, and interaction of risks that already exist.”
In an ideal world, we would not have state or federal climate intervention research bans. We would have researchers and institutions that would not shy away from revealing the good, the bad, and the ugly of these technologies and doing so responsibly.
“What excites me is that it’s very tempting to be very discouraged, and say, ‘Oh, we’ve got these archaic institutions that are calcified and you could never change them.’ But I think we’re in the middle of a technological revolution that will upend lots of things, and does provide a window.”
Ask people what worries them most right now, and they’ll say the cost of living and their livelihoods, not climate change. But those concerns are not separate.