AS the first news of the bomb blast in the Olympic Centennial Park came in, President Clinton was woken at 2a.m. by his staff and spent the rest of the night on alert. His daughter, Chelsea, had been spending the past week in Atlanta so he felt a personal involvement although he knew she was safe.

The fight against terrorism has unexpectedly shot to the top of the President's agenda in an election year and so far he has not put a foot wrong. His Republican opponent, Bob Dole, can only offer hi-partisan support as Mr Clinton takes the leadership role in combating terrorism not only at home but abroad.

One side effect of the US determination to crack down on terrorist actions will be increasing pressure on Sinn Fein to restore an IRA ceasefire to allow the Northern Ireland peace process stay alive. The FBI investigation into the TWA jetliner crash off Long Island 10 days ago has included the IRA among the terrorist groups listed as possible suspects, it was reported yesterday.

The US Attorney General, Janet Reno, will be urging action from other countries at the anti terrorism summit in Paris starting tomorrow. The meeting, to be attended by security ministers, is a follow up to the G7 summit in Lyons last month where President Clinton made counter terrorist measures an international priority following the bombing of a base in Saudi Arabia which killed 18 US military personnel.

Recent US legislation penalising foreign companies which invest in the oil industries in Iran and Libya have drawn protests from the EU under Ireland's presidency but the measures are seen in Washington as part of the fight against international terrorism and its sponsors.

Although the TWA Flight 800 crash, with the loss of 230 persons, is not yet officially described as a criminal act, the FBI investigation is going ahead on that assumption. President Clinton's announcement of stricter security checks at US airports is based on the likelihood of a terrorist act.

The President and Mrs Clinton have been widely praised for their lengthy visit to the families of the crash victims. Mr Clinton has shown several times in recent months his gift for showing compassion in tragedies and consoling families of victims.

HIS tougher side comes through in his unequivocal support for the death penalty. He has not hesitated to offend his liberal supporters by restricting the rights of appeal of hundreds of prisoners at present on death row through recent legislation.

During his presidency the feeling of insecurity among Americans has increased because of the series of terrorist or assumed terrorist attacks such as the Oklahoma bombing, the attack on the International Trade Centre in New York, the derailing of a train in Arizona, the killing of US personnel in Saudi Arabia in two incidents and now the TWA crash and the Atlanta bomb.

The proliferation of anti government militia groups with bomb making expertise has also increased fears of future attacks. While the President cannot be accused of negligence concerning these outrages, he is vulnerable to charges of not attaching sufficient urgency to ensuring air transport safety. The crash of the ValuJet airliner in the Everglades last May showed that safety procedures by some smaller airlines were not being closely monitored by government agencies.

Following the sabotage of the Pan Am jumbo jet over Lockerbie in 1988, the US Congress passed a law" ordering that a nationwide fool proof bomb detection system be installed in airports by 1993.

So far only two devices are on trial, in San Francisco and Atlanta.

To install the CTX-5000 device which uses CAT-scan methods to detect explosives in baggage, in the 75 busiest airports in the US, would cost up to $3 billion. So far the Clinton Administration has shown no urgency to provide federal funding for this.

PRESIDENT Clinton last week ordered Vice President Al Gore to head a commission which has 45 days to produce an "action plan" for deploying the latest equipment, but who is going to pay for it airlines, passengers or taxpayers remains vague. President Clinton can point out that it was a Republican dominated Congress which allowed the lapse of the to per cent tax on airline tickets which funded research into anti bomb devices.

Now the tax is likely to be revived and the President has reasserted his authority concerning air safety.

So far his opponents have little choice but to back him but if the President can be shown to fail in this area, he will be vulnerable when an increasingly insecure electo rate goes to the polls next November.