IEDs Pose Growing Risk on US Soil

Improvised bombs—terrorists' weapon of choice in Iraq and elsewhere—pose a growing threat on US soil, but the Bush administration has been slow to devise a strategy against them, the Washington Post reports. The Bush team will soon issue a long-overdue plan to counter the so-called IEDs, but critics say a  lack of funding and training remain problems.

Homeland security chief Michael Chertoff, who earlier this year said IED plans "lack strategic guidance," says he's not waiting for the final plan to be approved and has doled out $1.7 billion to beef up training and technology at marine ports and airports. One analyst says action can't come fast enough. "If terrorists initiated an IED campaign in America today, it could paralyze us."  (More IED stories.)