A Pentagon think tank called the Defense Science Board has concluded that the U.S. military cannot adequately respond to a terrorist attack on U.S. soil, Newsmax.com has reported.  The report says that the use of the military overseas is over-stretching its capabilities to react to a potential attack at home.

“Thus, instruments of national power, other than military, will assume greater importance. The nation is unprepared and is making little progress in reducing these costs,” the report said.

President-Elect Barack Obama has called for the creation of a “civilian national security” force as large and well-funded as the military.

“We need to be able to deploy teams that combine agricultural specialists and engineers and linguists and cultural specialists who are prepared to go into some of the most dangerous areas alongside our military,” Obama said in an interview with Defense News on July 7, 2008.

Mr. Obama has not yet reviled the details of his plan for a civilian national security force.