Former President BILL CLINTON tosses to University President Lawrence H. Summers.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton called for greater awareness of the possibilities and dangers of the interdependence of the modern world in a speech at Harvard yesterday.

“You live in an age of interdependence,” Clinton said to a crowd of over 6,000 packed into the Albert H. Gordon indoor track and tennis facility. “Openness brings greater opportunities, and greater vulnerabilities.”

The former president focused most of his speech on the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, recognizing the unprecedented damage the terrorist actions inflicted on the country.

“We are engaged literally in a struggle for the soul of this new century,” Clinton said.

University President Lawrence H. Summers, who served as Clinton’s secretary of the treasury, introduced his former boss, praising his leadership skills and depth of knowledge—as well as his ability to draw a crowd.

Once available seats were filled, many students were forced to sit on the floor, or stand behind the last row of bleachers, with Clinton only visible via two large-screen projections.

“Usually, to get a crowd this large at Harvard, we have to give away diplomas,” Summers quipped. “Today, it is only your presence.”

In his speech, Clinton said that despite the damage done, in the end terrorism would be defeated.

“Terrorism has a very long history,” Clinton said. “But in spite of this long history, no terrorist campaign has ever succeeded.”

The former president cited many instances where the government has been able to prevent acts of terror, saying everyone should feel confident that the country is well protected.

“As chilling as what happened on Sept. 11th and the current anthrax scare is, good people have been working on this for a long time, they are getting better, and will continue to get better,” Clinton said.

In order to limit future threats, Clinton called on the U.S. government to make improvements such as strengthening the capacity to track the funds of terrorist networks through improving the government’s “woefully inadequate computer tracking technologies.”

But Clinton said the battle against terrorism comes down to problems between how different communities interact.

“The central irony of our time is that with all of our progress, we are still bedeviled by fear, hatred and demonization,” Clinton said.

He said it is the role of the U.S. to ensure that more countries benefit from an open and interdependent world. Clinton said America must work to spread democracy, broaden economic benefits, reduce global poverty and generally maintain a higher level of consciousness of the problems and concerns of others, especially in Muslim countries.