Part of the problem, the survey found, was that most people don't think anything will happen to them. They think a new attack is coming, but it's coming elsewhere.

"I guess the reason I'm not terribly worried about it is probably the location I'm in," Angela Loston, 24, a writer from Dallas, told the Times following the survey. "Even though I'm in a major city, I am in the state of Texas, so I don't really see something happening here."

You just knew there had to be a term for such wishful thinking, and it's called "optimism bias," according to David Ropeik, who teaches risk communications at the Harvard School of Public Health.

"We see the same phenomenon with smoking, obesity and natural disasters. If you don't think it will happen to you, then you won't take any precautions," he told the paper. "When comes to terrorism, there is some truth here. If an attack happens, it's unlikely that you or I will be a victim. But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't be prepared."

The survey, conducted nationwide, found that 46 percent don't believe the U.S. is prepared for new terrorist attacks, while 43 percent said it is.

Nearly two-thirds, or 61 percent, said they don't have provisions stored at home, while nearly 3 in 4, or 70 percent, have not selected a family meeting place should a new attack occur.

The release of the survey comes as ABC News turned over a videotape it obtained in Pakistan to the CIA and FBI, which depicts a shrouded, sunglasses-wearing man speaking fluent English, warning of new terrorist attacks on the U.S. that will dwarf the 9/11 attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people.

The video appears to have been made in late summer, possibly in August, because the speaker mentions a number of events occurring about that time, such as the 9/11 Commission and the troubled Darfur region of Sudan.

ABC officials said they didn't want to air the tape before authenticating it.

Editor's note: