The safe answer is America will focus like a laser beam on the lessons of the foiled plot, at least until bottled water and contact lens solution are again allowed in carry-on luggage.

As we have seen all too often in the past, inertia and complaisance -- terrorism's best friends -- set in even after successful terrorist attacks and close calls.

Would anyone have imagined almost five years after 9/11 that American politics would have become as toxic as ever? That virtually every serious counterterror proposal would have been fought to the last comma? That homeland security would have become one of the nation's largest pork barrels, or that so much sensible and urgent security work would remain undone?

Still, I think this time will be different. I say this even though many grizzled and battle-hardened counterterror and homeland security veterans might see the wish as father of the thought, and despite that fact that the “privacy jihad” is already digging in for a fight.

Why? The simple fact is that virtually all Americans use air transportation and will thus identify intimately with this event. Our minds will be keenly focused on what could have happened, how it was stopped, and the remaining terrorist threat.

Most Americans will view this calculus in elemental and straightforward terms, unburdened by the nuances of politics and political correctness that cloud the thinking and produce dithering, rather than decisive, action by our political leadership and government officials.

I believe the country will cut no slack to leaders and government agencies who won't or can't “get it” and don't quickly get with the program.

Our 24-hour news cycle is incessantly pounding home the reality that the US was saved from a catastrophic attack of at least the magnitude of 9/11 -- probably by or with al Qaeda involvement -- by strong police work, good intelligence, international cooperation and good luck, without which success against terrorists rarely happens.

Having narrowly dodged another 9/11 bullet and recognizing that a determined and dangerous al Qaeda remains in the field, and concerned that worse -- a nuclear or radiation attack -- may be in preparation and yet to come, it seems likely America will take heed and insist on ratcheting up the country's defenses.

If so, what will this mean for America and how will this be felt in our daily lives and routines?

First, we should expect to see a more gloves-off approach to the sensitive matter of relations with local Muslims and their institutions. The foiled airlines plot and the subway and bus attacks of July 2005 in London were the handiwork of homegrown British terrorists. They were radicalized in local mosques and Muslim associations, under the noses of overly tolerant if not naïve British authorities.

This is clearly a lesson Americans have learned. The US plainly will not allow such a homegrown threat to blossom and will crackdown on overtly radical and seditious clerics proselytizing Muslims to violence against innocents and lawful authority.

Mosques, ostensible charitable organizations, schools, and seemingly innocent Muslim associations in the US are unlikely to remain exempt from scrutiny or official corrective action.

Nor will Americans continue to accept inaction by Muslim leaders in publicly condemning terrorist attacks, foiled plots or other blatantly hostile actions against US interests, or in withholding cooperation from law enforcement officers seeking information and assistance from Muslim communities.

As security practices in our transportation systems become more ubiquitous, time-consuming, and intrusive, Americans will increasingly favor the use of profiling. Frankly, much of the country is at a loss to understand why the authorities heretofore have been so outspokenly reluctant to use such a tactic, which to many is sensible and effective.

The reality is that most Americans believe we are a generous, open-minded and eminently fair society, treating our diversified populations fairly, if not deferring to minorities even at the expense of the majority. Many see these impulses repaid by constant criticism and demands for more considerations at the expense of the overall good. This is increasingly intolerable to many, and especially so with the country being on the edge of another 9/11 attack.

Second, I believe the US will draw sharp and obvious lessons from the fact that this plot was foiled by use of such controversial tools as communications monitoring, integration of huge volumes of data into coherent lines of investigation and operational leads, and physical and technical surveillance.

Already put off by the carping of the media, special interests, and seemingly out-of-step politicians, I doubt that Americans will stand by while lawful authorities are deprived or even criticized for using these and other techniques and strategies that have demonstrably saved us from another 9/11. There will be few successful attempts to make the perfect the enemy of the good. Even Congress and government officials clearly intimidated by legions of lawyers and full-throated privacy hawks should get the message that the country wants better security and fewer risks in its transportation systems.

Warrantless communications monitoring -- obviously key in unraveling this plot -- should be home free. Politicians and special interests will try to stop it at their peril.

Full and aggressive implementation of the Patriot Act statutes -- along with programs to monitor and manipulate international financial flows -- also are likely to have smoother sailing.

Similarly, legislation and measures proposed and enforced by those opposed to use of data mining and other high speed data sorting techniques are likely to be deep-sixed. That will almost certainly facilitate work on programs to target suspicious individuals well in advance of airport screening systems through comprehensive and accurate watch lists. Such programs are years behind schedule having been stopped dead in their tracks while terrorists conspired and raced ahead with their plans to attack our commercial aviation system.

Even such controversial security measures as disposition of terrorists held secretly abroad and at Guantanimo Bay and the tightening of border security (at least to curb the flood of illegal immigrants) will get a boost from the public focus on strengthening homeland defenses and fighting terrorism abroad.

Warnings from those concerned about privacy and those who insist on exercising what they view as full constitutional rights at all times -- and especially those who ridicule the terrorist threat -- are going to fall not only on deaf ears, but could trigger hostile push back. Plainly put, most understand that survival precedes privacy.

Third and finally, an aroused nation also will punish governments and their agencies that do too little, move too slowly, and only show negligible gains in security for the massive amounts of money spent since 9/11. There have been too many credible reports of waste and fraud in these programs, not to mention massive spending on pet projects under the guise of homeland security. In other words, the days of funding pork with homeland security funds are numbered.

In short, if I were a member of Congress, I would think twice about waiting until Labor Day to get back to work on America's security.