One of the guiding principles of Sun Tzu's the Art of War comes from Chapter Six: Weakness and Strength. It is that, "the place of battle must not be known to the enemy. If it is not known, the enemy must prepare to defend many places."

If not familiar with this principle, the terrorists that have declared war on America...or on any number of other countries as well...certainly use it. Because of the nature of terrorism and the open society America enjoys, the United States is left in the position of having to be prepared to defend an infinite number of places from innumerable kinds of attacks.

Terrorist organizations work in cells, isolated from each other and demanding absolute secrecy from their members. This allows them to choose the targets as they wish. This is the only way they can work if they are going to achieve the goal of terrorizing civilian populations with impunity. The enforced secrecy allows them to see to it "the place of battle [is] not known," as Sun Tzu advises and provides them with flexibility in the choice of targets and the timing of their attacks. However, faced with America's superior electronic surveillance abilities, the degree of secrecy required also severely cripples the lines of communication, which affects the chain of command. So all the advantages do not fall on the terrorists' side.

Still, the types of places generally chosen by this enemy are hotels and neighborhoods, cafes and vacation spots — places that by their very nature are not designed to be secured from terrorist attack. In fact, any attempt to defend them all would actually result in decreasing our chances of defending anything. So...what would Sun Tzu advise in this situation? Can we apply the principles of The Art of War...or of Bushido or the 36 Strategies to defending ourselves (or taking the fight to the enemy) in this situation?

Might make for some interesting conversations.....