And yet some states have done some things in this area, but until Congress acts, there'll be more than 100 million Americans who won't have these full protections.
Everything possible should be done to dissipate the perception fostered by Ehud Barak's reckless concessions and other acts of appeasement namely, that the Arab war option foreclosed since 1973 has once again become viable.
No-one in Paris - or any other Western capital - wants parts of Mali to become like Afghanistan in the 1990s - a place where acts of terror further afield could be planned and where people would then ask why something was not done earlier.
If instead of warning us about the death of the oceans, Dr Rogers set out a programme for what could be done for our beaches and rivers, a plan of action that could involve us in individual acts of innovation and change?