Have we beaten terror already?

Alot of jokes have been cracked this week at the expense of the FBI's new anti-pornography unit. Many of the jokes came from within the Bureau's field offices, including these gems: "Things I don't want on my résumé, volume four," "Honestly, most guys would have to rescue themselves" and "I guess this means we must have won the war on terror. We must not need any more resources for espionage."\nLast month, the Bureau began recruiting for this new anti-obscenity squad, prompting some to coin it the "war on pornography." Mind you, the task force would not track child pornographers or other explicitly illegal acts. Rather, it would investigate the actions, finances and movements of legal pornographers in an effort to gather evidence against the "manufacturers and purveyors" of obscene material. \nRidiculous as it might seem, we should take serious notice of this new war on an abstract noun. For better or worse (probably for worse), hard-core pornography has become ubiquitous in American culture. And while Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison and Co. probably didn't envision the First Amendment protecting an American's right to see S&M orgies on DirecTV, pornography is speech, however obscene it might be. \nNevertheless, the FBI investigating legally- and constitutionally-protected activities is not my real concern. As long as there is an FBI, there will always be constitutional questions involved, and we'll have plenty of time to yak about First Amendment violations if any of these cases reach open court. My concern is that the FBI should be busy protecting us from terrorists and criminals who pose a direct threat to our safety and well-being, not legal purveyors of morally questionable material.\nIn the wake of Sept. 11, 2001, the FBI's role as an investigatory body for domestic terrorism and foreign terrorists within the country has become paramount in our national defense. Furthermore, there are whole new frontiers of cyber-crime, while the old Mafia and gang wars have yet to fully pass. I thought the mistakes of Sept. 11 demonstrated that such a period in the nation's history of crime and justice demands an FBI that has its priorities straight. \nWould the average American family like to see less porn out there? Probably. But I think it would like to see more terrorists put on trial more often. I think America would like to see more good police work, such as catching career criminals. I think America needs an FBI that rises above the bumbling agency it has been. With the world a dangerous place and national security the No. 1 priority, how important is it that the FBI go hunt down some guy recording dirty movies on his HandiCam? \nWill eight agents and two supervisors severely dent the war on terror? No. Will a field office to investigate obscenity be a significant distraction? Probably not. Is it still stupid? No doubt about it. If, by shifting one agent from the war on terror to the war on pornography, one terrorist gets through the cracks, we've failed. The FBI would do better to quit chasing porn-purveyors and take care of security that really matters.