Congress has provided about $100 million to support the training of local officials nationwide to cope with unconventional terrorist attacks.

The Pentagon made public today a final set of reports on a cold war program that tested the vulnerability of American forces to unconventional attack, having identified 5,842 people who may have been exposed to chemical or biological agents.

Spotlighting new concerns about unconventional attacks, these directives assigned tasks to lead agencies but did not differentiate types of terrorist threats.

Although the Sept. 11 attacks suggest that Al Qaeda and other terrorists will continue to use conventional weapons, one of our highest concerns is their stated readiness to attempt unconventional attacks against us.

The report analyzes the danger of both conventional military threats, including Iranian attacks involving Chinese-made anti-ship missiles that are being deployed, as well as unconventional attacks by terrorist forces.

And so, because of cost or logistical reasons, the city has also ruled out developing its own stockpile of drugs and vaccines for police use in an unconventional terrorist attack.

A fatalism has taken hold among many firefighters, who say they expect that many of them would die in an unconventional attack.

In the interview, Mr. Clinton said he hoped that a major legacy of his Presidency would be to stave off unconventional attacks.

In time, U.N. pressure might be brought to bear, multinational monitors put in place, and reparations to the victims of the deadly unconventional attacks begun.

This now seems prescient, given the unconventional attacks on Sept. 11 and the ensuing war against terrorism.