If I want news coverage of how Americans are observing the sixth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 I would have read something other than Slate. But today I woke up mad. I woke up disappointed in myself for staying up until 3 am for no good reason, but even more disappointed in American progress when I read Daniel Bynum's piece, "Homeland Insecurity."
Bynum opens his criticism by citing a recent report by the Government Accountability Office. The GAO found that the only area of fourteen measured in which progress was rated "substantial" was maritime security. The three major concerns of maritime security are port security, vessel security and facility security in relation to terrorism, subversion and sabotage. Hats off to the Coast Guard. But what about the other thirteen areas of concern?
Bynum says don't worry about them. That's comforting. I am not kidding. It is. I lied. It was comforting until I read the rest of the piece.
The larger concern, according the Bynum, is that the DHS has not taken a strategic approach to homeland security. The DHS is so caught up in bureaucratic standards that it has forgotten how to fight terrorism.
Bynum cites a major area of concern in the DHS's failure to try to garner the support of American Muslims in fighting terrorist plots within our borders. "If terrorists can hide among a sympathetic local community, the job of police and intelligence officials is daunting." He is right. If the DHS isn't going to make connections, gain sources and garner support in Muslim Communities it is hopeless to stop terrorism from taking root.
He also cities a 2005 study in which 70 percent of Muslim youth activists felt "significant hostility" towards Muslims. Concerning enough as that statistic is, the meat of Bynum piece comes in a paragraph that could easily be skimmed over without much thought.
Bynum strongly criticizes the inability of the FBI to both prevent and respond to a terrorist attack. Last Sunday, Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton reported that analysts are still treated as second class citizens at the FBI. To add insult to injury, the National Academy of Public Administration has been very critical of the way the FBI recruits, hires and develops its leaders. So if the question of who is dropping the ball with regards to progress in fighting terrorism, the answer is clearly the FBI.
Perhaps there is a larger problem, though. Clark Kent Ervin, the former inspector general at the DHS said, "[Terrorism] is like water. It seeks, finds and takes the path of least resistance." He is not making the case for spending more money and guarding more targets. He, like Bynum, is an advocate for a better response. As Bynum points out, you can spend too much money on homeland security. It is possible to waste tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars on a feeling of security that has no real value.
To close, I feel it necessary to quote the West Wing's fictional president, Josiah Bartlet. "There is evil in the world, there'll always be, and there is nothing we can do about it," he said following a terrorist attack.
What we can do something about is our response. We won't necessarily be able to stop all attacks on American soil, but we can control how we react to them.
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