The deputy assistant secretary of defense identified common myths about weapons of mass destruction and the duties of the American people on Saturday.

Along with those issues, Steven Bucci addressed avenues the Department of Defense has explored in preventing attacks since Sept. 11, 2001.

Although specialized units have been a top priority for homeland defense, Bucci said, the ability of terrorism to strike fear into the hearts of Americans is still a key aspect of terrorism.

“In my humble opinion, the job we have done to work against fear has been abysmal since 9/11,” he said. “We can’t sell the truth to people . we don’t do it very well, and people don’t believe us [government officials] when we talk.”

Bucci identified a number of common misconceptions about WMDs during his address in the Cardinal Room of the Memorial Union. Construction of weapons, obtaining radioactive materials, dirty bombs, chemical and biological warfare and the role of the Internet in providing “blueprints” for the “bad guys” were all issues Bucci addressed.

The first and possibly most important myth he discussed was the actual threat WMDs pose.

“A heck of a lot of the hype that causes fear isn’t appropriate,” Bucci said, but the “bad guys” are constantly trying to get their hands on WMDs to use against Americans, posing a very real threat.

Earlier in his career, Bucci said weapons of mass destruction were labeled “NBCs” – nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. But, to Bucci and his peers, they were better known as “NoBody Cares” – a concept that has changed drastically in his mind.

“To most of us, it was just a test that we had to pass to get a certain type of skill badge,” he said. “Boy, these things have really changed a lot.”

Since the attacks on the World Trade Center, Bucci said homeland security officials have invested in a number of “extremely specialized” programs to provide aid in the event of an attack.

Bucci said 53 civil support teams have been compiled, each with 22 full-time members of the National Guard. These groups are called out “all the time” in events such as the incident recently involving the deadly poison ricin at a Las Vegas hotel.

Bucci said it takes just one slip-up on the part of national security for the “bad guys” to make their impact felt.

“You can have 100 ‘atta-boys,’ but just one ‘aw, shoot,’ and they all go away,” he said. “Bad guys only have to be right one time – we have to be right every time.”

After Bucci’s lecture, David Lord, of Clemons, asked why the U.S. government continues to keep small but important terrorist activities out of the attention of the media.

In response, Bucci said that deciding what to tell media outlets is a difficult decision to make because the government wants U.S. citizens to be informed, but the it doesn’t want to fuel fear with every little issue that comes up.

Lord, who attended because of his experience with 9/11, spoke briefly about the one decision that kept him safe that day.

“I worked just 10 blocks from the Twin Towers. I wasn’t there on 9/11 – luckily, I called in sick that day,” he said. “The next thing I know, planes are flying into buildings.”