Michael Chertoff and George Bush tout five years of Homeland Security
The Associated Press

Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff, right, and George Bush tout five years of securing the nation against terrorist attack.

Featured Topic | Posted 38 weeks 4 days ago

Homeland Security turns five -- cause for celebration?

Five years after the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, the United States has successfully lowered the risk of a large-scale domestic terrorist attack in the near future, one of the reasons there has been an increase in attacks by Islamic extremists in Europe, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff says.

But the department, which incorporated 22 federal agencies and employs more than 220,000 people, has encountered numerous challenges, bureaucratic snafus, accounting lapses and unmet mandates, especially on immigration.

Does the existence of the Department of Homeland Security make the United States safer?

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Ben likes: Less can be more for DHS

The Heritage Foundation

The Department of Homeland Security is just five years old this month. It still has not yet mastered basic functions like immigration services (there is a backlog of an estimated 1,275,795 applications from would-be legal immigrants) or tracking foreign visitors. Before Congress adds any new mandates, the DHS should really prove they can handle he ones they have already.

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Joel likes: Five years later, are we safe at home?

P.J. Crowley/Center for American Progress

While the president will give it high marks, in fact, DHS stands at the bureaucratic equivalent of early adolescence, which means it has taken both right and wrong steps, but is still struggling to decide what is important. It shows potential, but it needs more support if it is to achieve long-term success.

There is a growing gap between what DHS is expected to do -- secure our borders, protect critical infrastructure, share better intelligence, defend against weapons of mass destruction, and respond to disasters -- and its actual capacity to do them. The reasons for the gap have to do with strategy, priority, ideology, and politics.

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Thoughts

The Myth of Homeland Security

Submitted on March 6th, 2008 by Chuck_Johnson

Had the federal government not passed a law stopping pilots from carrying firearms, the headlines on September 12th would have read, 19 dead Arabs.

God forbid we ever have a train or bus bombing in this country. I don't want to be scanned when I walk onto the bus.

Chuck Johnson is a student at Claremont McKenna College. Feel free to contact him.

Sky security

Submitted on March 6th, 2008 by Ben

The Transportation Security Administration does a fine job fondling passengers and confiscating tooth paste (as happened to me the last time I flew out of Denver -- but, oddly, not when I flew in). But the TSA isn't quite as effective at monitoring who's taking lessons at U.S. flight schools.

Re: Posterior

Submitted on March 6th, 2008 by Joel

Well, good lord man, who knows what the terrorists would do with a hip implant?

Homeland posterior pain

Submitted on March 6th, 2008 by Anonymous

With a few metal parts (screws and pins) embedded in my body I can no longer fly without being taken behind a screen and subjected to the rude antics of some strange person with a rubber glove and tube of lube.
Producing a letter signed by 2 doctors and a county sheriff has had no effect. If the big machine goes 'beeep' and the little hand wand goes 'buzzz' it's bend over and smile time.
I no longer fly. I'll drive take the buss or even walk.

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