A new kind of war, uncertainty.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

WICHITA, Kan. _ The fight against terrorism requires Americans to wage a fundamentally new kind of war, a security expert said Monday in Wichita.

In this new battle, there will be uncertainty. Citizens will have to be patient with vague warnings of possible threats, said Ruth David, a Wichita State University graduate and former CIA official who heads a research institute that advises on issues of homeland defense.

In this new war, David said, local community and business leaders must join federal officials in countering threats and responding to attacks.

"Our military alone will not ensure the security of our nation from terrorism," she said in a speech to the Downtown Rotary Club in Wichita. David, a 1975 graduate of WSU, previously was deputy director of science and technology at the CIA.

One of the key challenges is fighting without abandoning a free and prosperous way of life, said David, president and chief executive of ANSER, a nonprofit institute based in Arlington, Va.

A man in the audience asked her if his daughter would be safe traveling to Spain. She told him to check State Department travel advisories and to learn about the conditions in Spain. But she encouraged him to let his daughter see the world, even if terrorists inhabit part of it. Giving in to fear, she said, would be a victory for terrorists.

An open society fighting a faceless enemy _ who obsessively guards his secrets and stealthily moves from place to place _ faces ...