Federalism's Role and Impact on Terrorism

One of the most typical ways of combatting terrorism, which to many seems pretty effective, is the use of military and police force. Aggressive actions against suspects, supporters, and those harboring terrorists appears one of our only options in a time of war and fear, but in his article, Bruno S. Frey argues that

decentralization constitutes a powerful antidote as it strongly reduces the
incentives for terrorists to attack and because the expected damage suffered is
much smaller than in a centralized society. It moreover strengthens society, as
economic, political and social decentralization (or polycentricity) is an
essential element of a free and vigorous society. This in turn makes a society
less vulnerable to terrorist attacks. Indeed, terrorism has no chance of success
against a society that actively guards its fundamental liberal institutions, of
which decentralized decision-making forms an essential part.

The concept that a decentralized government could in fact lessen the frequency and consistancy is both puzzling and dumb, to be blunt. A powerful government, to me, sends a message to others nationwide and worldwide that our country is capable of incredible things. Just as you wouldn't typically choose to fight the guy 3 times your size, a nation with a powerful government appears much more frightening in the face of war than does a nation with a loose central government. The role of our government is to protect its people and their rights, and in this protection a government muct be able to combat foreign and local threats. In response to terrorism, a decentralized government has no way of protecting its people and solving the issue before it. Even if it lessens the amount of terrorism the country receives, it has no way of dealing with it when those terrorists attack.