One Year Later

Last September Stephen Flynn of the Council of Foreign Relations published "The Neglected Home Front" in Foreign Affairs. As the title indicates, he argued that we are failing to protect our homeland despite the degree of vulnerability we face every day. It doesn't appear that his argument, despite its validity, has caught on with the people who lead us.

Flynn argues that we are kidding ourselves by separating homeland security from national security. Fighting terrorism abroad does not mean that we should neglect preparing for the next terrorist attack here. But that is what we are doing.

Interestingly, he compares our attitude towards and preparations against terrorism to the Maginot Line idea before World War II. The French could not conceive that the world of war had changed. In our zeal to "take the battle to the enemy" we are ignoring our vulnerabilities here at home. Flynn points out that the costs of 3 days in Iraq are more than what we have spent in 3 years on protecting our 361 seaports.

He takes Bush to task for that part of our National Homeland Security Strategy which states, "The government should only address those activities that the market does not adequately provide." The market is interested in beating the competition. Unless all companies in an industry spend on security, very, very few will. Yet, there is no incentive or mandate for companies to improve security. Again, another example of the belief in slogans of the people who govern us.

He concludes by suggesting the formation of a new 'structure that allows the private sector and civil society to participate as equal partners in the process of designing and implementing security for the U.S. homeland'. That structure is very much like the Federal Reserve System, which has worked well over the seventy years since its creation.