Taming terrorism // Technology alone not the answer

It's 6:22 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 23, 1983, in Beirut. Near theinternational airport, hundreds of U.S. marines are asleep in alightly guarded, four-story office building they call the BeirutHilton.

A yellow, 2 1/2-ton Mercedes-Benz stakebed truck passes aLebanese army checkpoint and rolls into a public parking lot in frontof the building. It accelerates, careens easily through aconcertina-wire obstacle, and as two marine sentries fumble withunloaded M-16 rifles, the smiling driver speeds past them, crashesthrough the sergeant-of-the-guard shack and comes to a stop in thelobby of the Beirut Hilton.

Some experts believe a cheap electrical relay, like those inpinball …