This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Wednesday, August 31st, 2011. I'm Caleb Brown. A so-called

lone wolf attack like the one carried out by Anders Breivik in Norway will always be difficult

to prevent.

It's almost baked into the cake that someone who discusses his plans with no one will be difficult

to identify before the attack.

So how much freedom should we be prepared to give up in order to prevent one?

Julian Sanchez, research fellow at the Cato Institute, comments.

The interesting thing we're seeing in a lot of Europe is that while various countries

are now calling for stepping up internet surveillance as though somehow that could have stopped brevick from going on his one-man rampage.

You're actually seeing a slightly more sober take from some of the Norwegian authorities.

Some of them have noted that actually Breveck came on law enforcement's radar at some

point, I think, well before this, not right before but rather, a year or two ago.

And so he was scrutinized at least briefly.

I think it was just on the basis of his sort of saying a lot of crazy and radical things on the internet.

And the problem is this is a guy with no real criminal record, no history to speak of of serious violence.

And he seems to, despite his talk about,

or his fantasies about being the leader of some kind of larger movement,

there isn't much indication that he was really part of an organized group.

And so what... he was really part of an organized group.

And so what some of the law enforcement officials themselves has said is really there's not

a lot we could have done in advance to have known that this guy was plotting this horrific

massacre and we hate to hear that. We hate to hear an admission that there are some

...