Rethinking Homeland Security

The second anniversary of the September 11th, 2001 atrocities is a good time for new scrutiny of increased "homeland security." The massive effort is expensive, misdirected, and possibly even dangerous.

Homeland security measures began as a round-up of Muslim men within days of the attacks. "Security" has quickly grown into an enormous bureaucracy and legal juggernaut. Thousands of Muslim men in America have been detained in prison. Hundreds of Arabic, South Asian, and Muslim men have been deported for visa violations, and dozens have been charged with crimes. The budget for the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) exceeds $100 billion.

Anyone who enters a skyscraper, a museum, or a ballpark just about anywhere sees the heightened security: metal detectors, searches of bags, identification procedures—all of these are costs borne largely by local and state governments, the private sector, and consumers. Cities and states are told to tighten security and bleed the resources from education budgets or incur debt to do so. The raising of the federal alert from yellow to orange alone costs local law enforcement millions of dollars in overtime for police.

Some Democrats have raised concerns about the money going into this colossal undertaking, saying funds aren’t going to the places needing it most. Republicans have marched almost completely in locked step with the White House. Both parties are missing two fundamental points. First, we need to ask whether a terrorist threat warranting such spending and fear actually exists. If the answer to that is yes, even tentatively, then we should demand a homeland security effort that provides something positive and tangible. Second, if we face years or even decades of terrorism, and, most acutely, terrorism using weapons of mass destruction, then we need to make sure that the funds are going to the right place and not just to a few more dollars to firefighters or police departments.

Are we at risk for future terrorist attacks? Since the 2001 attacks about two dozen cases have been brought against alleged terrorists in Buffalo, Seattle, Chicago, Oregon, Northern Virginia, Tampa, and Detroit. In reading the indictments and plea bargains of these cases, one is struck by the lack of concrete evidence of any major conspiracies or actions against the United States itself. Most involve discussions about "jihad," going to Afghanistan or Pakistan to train or fight, setting up target practice locally, and sending money to organizations listed as being terrorist. Many of these cases resulted in convictions on relatively minor charges. In at least two of the cases, defense attorneys insist, plea bargains came as a result of threats by the federal prosecutors that the defendants would be taken to military tribunals, held in isolation, and possibly executed. All in all, given the thousands of interrogations and the actual cases brought, it can safely be concluded that internally, at least, no significant threat exists. None even hinted at weapons of mass destruction or anything as dangerous as a truck bomb.

Despite this, many people agree that homeland security must be a priority. To enhance security in a way that most benefits the American people, we need to think creatively. Security is not just about organizing military preparedness or more sophisticated techniques of surveillance and detection. It should instead be regarded as a function of social organization, of how American society and its institutions are organized. We will achieve enhanced security at home only by creating an America where people are better educated, better employed, healthier, more just, and more equitable.

Regrettably, our current government is far from this thinking. The Bush administration has scarcely mentioned the social contributions necessary for greater security. The only distinctly social activities urged by the White House seem limited to neighborhood "watch" committees and tattling, and praying. Public discourse on homeland security has been rather formless, rotating around vaguely articulated threats, frantic efforts at military and first-responder readiness, and fitful bureaucratic consolidation. Even the color-coded alert system seems now to be largely disregarded or ridiculed.