Review: The Homeland Security Dilemma
| Date | 01 December 2009 |
| Author | Edward Alden |
| Published date | 01 December 2009 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070200906400419 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
| International Journal | Autumn 2009 | 1147 |
THE HOMELAND SECURITY DILEMMA
Fear, failure and the future of American insecurity
Frank P. Harvey
London and New York: Routledge, 2008. 284pp, US$140.00 cloth
ISBN 978-0-415-77515-1
The terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 were a defining event in the
modern history of international politics and security. They buried the “end of
history” hypothe sis, the “unipolar moment,” and other illusions of global
security under American leadership that had taken hold since the end of the
Cold War. They led the United States and its allies into two costly wars and
spawned a huge domestic fortification and surveillance effort in the name of
homeland security.
Yet for all the justifiable recriminations after 9/11, the attacks might
easily have failed or been thwarted. Terrorists had tried, after all, to bring
down the Twin Towers in 1993 with a truck bomb that proved too small for
the task. Plots to blow up the Lincoln and Holland tunnels in New York were
uncovered and stopped. An alert US Customs officer halted Ahmed Ressam
on his way from Victoria to Los Angeles to detonate a huge bomb at LAX.
And Manila police stumbled into Ramzi Yousef’s apartment after an
accidental fire, ending an al Qaeda plot to bring down 11 trans-Pacific
airliners. Any of these attacks could have changed history in the way 9/11
did. Similarly, had the 9/11 plot failed, the US and other governments would
have continued for many years to assume that the terrorist threat was under
control.
How then should we evaluate Washington’s ambitious efforts to bolster
internal defenses against terrorism since 9/11? Was the US too complacent
before September 11th, or has it badly overreacted since then? This is the
question that Frank P. Harvey tackles in his thoughtful book
The Homeland
Security Dilemma
, which should be required reading for the many pundits
who have cavalierly declared the entire enterprise a failure.
As Harvey notes, the administration of President George W. Bush did
indeed prevent further terrorist attacks in the US after 9/11, yet public
confidence in his administration’s handling of terrorism nonetheless
declined. The fundamental dilemma of homeland security, he argues, is that
more security spending has made Americans feel less safe. He cites many
reasons for this paradox, the most important being that government
successes in foiling terrorism are largely hidden from view or difficult to
| Reviews |
To continue reading
Request your trial