Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-02T13:44:38.740Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Homeland Security Dilemma: Imagination, Failure and the Escalating Costs of Perfecting Security

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2007

Frank P. Harvey
Frank P. Harvey
Affiliation:
State University of New York (Plattsburgh) and Dalhousie University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Abstract. Besieged by insurgencies in Afghanistan and Iraq and gripped by mounting pressure to enhance security and public safety at home, officials in Washington and Ottawa are now confronted with a serious homeland security dilemma: the greater the financial costs, public sacrifice and political capital invested in security, the higher the public's expectations and corresponding standards for measuring performance, the more significant the public's sense of insecurity after each failure, and, paradoxically, the higher the pressure on governments and citizens to sacrifice even more to achieve perfect security. The paradox of security dilemmas at the international level (Jervis, 1976, 1978) explains why perfectly rational decisions to enhance power actually diminish security by promoting unstable spirals in competitive defence spending—a common account of escalating military budgets throughout much of the Cold War. The homeland security dilemma represents the post-9/11 equivalent for domestic politics in the war on terrorism. The paper's central argument can be summed up by the following counterintuitive thesis: the more security you have, the more security you will need, not because enhancing security makes terrorism more likely (although the incentive for terrorists to attack may increase as extremists feel duty bound to demonstrate their ongoing relevance), but because enormous investments in security inevitably raise public expectations and amplify public outrage after subsequent failures.

Résumé. Assaillies par des insurrections en Afghanistan et en Irak et bousculées par la pression de plus en plus grande d'améliorer le système de sécurité publique à l'intérieur du pays, les autorités de Washington et d'Ottawa se trouvent confrontées à un sérieux dilemme en ce qui concerne la sécurité intérieure : plus les coûts financiers, les sacrifices publics et le capital politique investis dans la sécurité sont importants, plus les attentes du public et les standards de mesure du rendement correspondants sont élevés, plus le sentiment général d'insécurité augmente après chaque échec, et, paradoxalement, plus la pression sur les gouvernements et les citoyens de faire des sacrifices encore plus lourds pour parvenir à une parfaite sécurité s'intensifie. Le paradoxe du dilemme sécuritaire au niveau international (Jervis, 1976, 1978) explique pourquoi des décisions parfaitement rationnelles prises pour renforcer le pouvoir réduisent en fait la sécurité en encourageant des spirales instables de dépenses militaires concurrentielles—voir l'escalade des budgets militaires pendant la guerre froide. Le dilemme de la sécurité intérieure en est l'équivalent en politique nationale, depuis le 11 septembre, dans le contexte de la guerre contre le terrorisme. L'argument principal de cet article peut se résumer par la thèse contre-intuitive qui suit : plus on a de sécurité, plus il en faut. Pas parce que le renforcement de la sécurité rend le terrorisme plus probable (bien que la motivation des terroristes risque de s'exaspérer quand les extrémistes se sentent obligés de démontrer que leur pertinence perdure), mais parce que des investissements massifs dans la sécurité augmentent inévitablement les attentes et que l'opinion se scandalise encore davantage de tout échec subséquent.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 40 , Issue 2 , June 2007 , pp. 283 - 316
Copyright
© 2007 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Altheide, David. 2002. Creating Fear: News and the Construction of Crisis. New Jersey: Aldine Transaction.
Angus Reid Global Monitor. 2006a. Polls & Research. http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/.
Angus Reid Global Monitor: Polls, &Research. 2006b. “Canadians Concerned After Terror Arrests.” http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/12213 (June 13, 2006).
Argetsinger, Amy and Sonya Geis. 2005. “4 Charged With Terrorist Plot in California.” Washington Post, September 1, A02.
Bacon, William. 2003. “Scorecard on the War on Terrorism.” FrontPageMagazine.com, http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=8687 (July 3, 2003).
Baker, Gerard. 2004. “The war on terror has been a great success—but still Bush can't sell it.” The Times Online, October 7, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1072-1297604,00.html (August 10, 2006).
Baker, Peter and Dan Eggen. 2006. “Bush Details 2002 Plot to Attack L.A. Tower.” Washington Post, February 10, A04.
BBC News. 2003. “Major al-Qaeda attack foiled.” http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2690629.stm (January 14, 2003).
BBC News. 2006. “Border Breach: Hey, it's only a little radioactive material.” http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4852410.stm (March 29, 2006).
BBC News. 2006. “Blair backs MI5 terrorism warning.” http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6137188.stm (November 10, 2006).
Bloomberg.com. 2006. “‘Dirty Bomb’ Material Smuggled to US, GAO Says.” http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=a.6ODqglGQO0&refer=us (March 28, 2006).
Bowman, Karlyn H. 2006. “America and the War on Terror.” American Enterprise Institute, http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.22819/pub_detail.asp (October 13, 2006).
Brachman, Jarret M. and William F. McCants. 2006. “Stealing Al-Qaeda's Playbook.” Studies in Conflicts and Terrorism 29: 309–321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BreakingNews.ie. 2003. “Top al-Qaida terrorist blows himself up in Saudi.” http://archives.tcm.ie/breakingnews/2003/07/03/story104790.asp (July 3, 2006).
Canada. Foreign Affairs, and International Trade Canada. 2003. The Canada-U.S. Smart Border Declaration. http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/anti-terrorism/actionplan-en.asp.
Canada. Foreign Affairs, and International Trade Canada. 2006. A Strong Partnership: Canada-U.S. Relations, http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/can-am/main/menu-en.asp.
CBC News. 2005. “Australian arrests foiled ‘catastrophic’ attack: police.” http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2005/11/08/australia-plot051108.html (November 8, 2005).
CBS News. 2005. “Morocco Arrests 17 Terror Suspects.” http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/11/20/world/main1060357.shtml (November 20, 2005).
Christensen, Thomas J. 1999. “China, the US-Japan Alliance, and the Security Dilemma in East Asia.” International Security 23: 49–80.Google Scholar
Christensen, Thomas J. 2002. “The Contemporary Security Dilemma: Deterring a Taiwan Conflict.” The Washington Quarterly 25: 7–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chronicle Herald. 2006. “CSIS Reports Al-Qaeda attack ‘probable.’” May 10, A6.
Clawson, Greg. 2006. “Using Passive RFID to Meet Container Tracking and Personnel Security.” Symbol Technologies, Inc. http://www.aeanet.org/AeACouncils/txjJDbXivUH.pdf (January 13, 2006).
Collacott, Martin. 2006. Inadequate Response to Terrorism: The Need for Policy Reform. Fraser Institute Digital Publication, February 2006. http://www.fraserinstitute.ca/admin/books/files/TerrorismResponse4.pdf.
Collins, Alan. 1997. The Security Dilemma and the End of the Cold War. Edinburgh: Keele University Press.
Collins, Alan. 2000. The Security Dilemmas of Southeast Asia. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Collins, Alan. 2004. “State-Induced Security Dilemma: Maintaining the Tragedy.” Cooperation and Conflict 39: 27–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Croxford, Tracy. 2005. “Public Perceptions in a Changing World.” Presentation to the World Nuclear Transport Institute, February 13–15, Paris, http://www.wnti.co.uk/attachment/publications/speeches/presentationpapers/WP_PIME_TCR_Poster.pdf.
CTV News. 2004. “US unjustified in deporting Arar, poll finds.” http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20040208/terror_poll040206 (February 8, 2004).
CTV News. 2004. “Pakistan arrests damage al Qaeda network: report.” http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20040807/Pakistan_alQaeda_040807 (August 7, 2004).
CTV News. 2006. “71% believe terrorists will hit Canada: poll.” http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060609/terrorism_poll_060609/20060609 (June 9, 2006).
De Sola, David. “Government investigators smuggled radioactive materials into US.” 2006. CNN.com, http://edition.cnn.com/2006/US/03/27/radioactive.smuggling/index.html.
Delvoie, Louis A. 2005. “Terrorism: Global Insecurity or Global Hyperbole?” Canadian Military Journal 6: 103–104.Google Scholar
Dunnigan, James. 2005. “Keeping Score against al Qaeda.” StrategyWorld.com, https://www.strategyworld.com (February 20, 2005).
Dyer, Gwynne. 2006. “Lying for jihad: The ‘20th hijacker’ shows terrorists were a bunch of bumblers.” Winnipeg Free Press. http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/westview/story/3420216p-3954600c.html (April 3, 2006).
Evans, Michael. 2004. “Al-Qaeda agent's laptop yields vital intelligence clues.” London Times On Line, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1205983,00.html (August 7, 2004).
Flemming, Brian. 2006. “Dispatches from the War on Terror.” Presentation delivered for the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, the Van Horne Institute and CDFAI, March 14, Calgary, Alberta.
Fox News. 2004. “Major Anti-Terror Bust in UK.” http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,115587,00.html (March 30, 2004).
Furedi, Frank. 2002a. Culture of Fear: Risk Taking and the Morality of Low Expectation. London: Continuum International Publishing Group.
Furedi, Frank. 2002b. “Epidemic of fear” Spiked-Online.com, http://www.spiked-online.com (March 15, 2002).
Gelpi, Christopher, Peter D. Feaver and Jason Reifler. 2005–2006. “Success Matters: Casualty Sensitivity and the War in Iraq.” International Security 30: 7–46.Google Scholar
Gelpi, Christopher and John Mueller. 2006. “The Cost of War.” Foreign Affairs 85: 139.
Gilbert, Nina. 2004. “Hamas mega-attack thwarted.” Jerusalem Post Online Edition, http://www.jpost.com/ (June 16, 2004).
Glaser, Charles L. 1997. “The Security Dilemma Revisited.” World Politics 50: 171–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glassner, Barry. 2000. The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things. New York: Basic Books.
Harvey, Frank P. 2004a. “Addicted to Security: Globalized Terrorism and the Inevitability of American Unilateralism.” International Journal Winter 2004: 27–57.Google Scholar
Harvey, Frank P. 2004b. Smoke and Mirrors: Globalized Terrorism and the Illusion of Multilateral Security. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Harvey, Frank P. 2005. “Canada's Addiction to American Security: The Illusion of Choice in the War on Terror.” American Review of Canadian Studies 35: 265–294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heritage Foundation. 2005. “Bush's War Score Card Has More Pluses than Minuses.” http://heritage.com (August 15, 2005).
Herz, John. 1950. “Idealist Internationalism and the Security Dilemma.” World Politics 2: 157–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herz, John. 1951. Political Realism and Political Idealism: A Study in Theories and Realities. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Hughes, John. 2005. “Four years after 9/11, terror's hold is loosening.” Christian Science Monitor, http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0831/p09s02-cojh.html (August 31, 2005).
Ipsos-Reid. 2002. Polls and Research. http://www.ipsos-na.com/news/results.cfm.
Jerusalem Post OnLine. 2004. “UAE stops suspected sale of nuclear secrets.” http://www.jpost.com/ (July 20, 2004).
Jervis, Robert. 1976. Perception and Misperception in International Politics. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Jervis, Robert. 1978. “Cooperation under the Security Dilemma.” World Politics 40: 167–214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kahneman, Daniel and Amos Tversky. 1979. “Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk.” Econometrica 47: 313–327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kahneman, Daniel and Amos Tversky. 1992. “Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk.” Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 5: 297–323.Google Scholar
Leitenberg, Milton. 2006. “Bioterrorism, hyped.” Los Angeles Times, http://LAtimes.com (February 17, 2006).
Lemons, Katherine, Patricia Purtschert and Yves Winter. 2003. “Feeding Fear: The New Security Culture.” AlterNet, http://www.alternet.org (December 3, 2003).
Limbacher, Carl. 2006. “Major Terror Plot Against US Ignored.” NewsMax.com, http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/1/5/101649.shtml (January 5, 2006).
Linzer, Dafna and Walter Pincus. 2006. “Taliban, Al-Qaeda Resurge in Afghanistan, CIA Says.” Washington Post, November 16, 2006, A22. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2006/11/15/AR2006111501622.html.
Minter, Richard. 2005. Disinformation: 22 Media Myths That Undermine the War on Terror. Washington: Regnery Publishing Inc.
Mueller, John. 2005. “The Iraq Syndrome.” Foreign Affairs 84: 44.Google Scholar
Mueller, John. 2006. Overblown: How Politicians and the Terrorism Industry Inflate National Security Threats, and Why We Believe Them. New York: Free Press.
Myers, David G. 2001. “Do We Fear the Right Things?” Observer: Journal of the American Psychological Society 14, http://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/1201/prescol.html.Google Scholar
Nagy, Sasha. “Massive terror attack averted: RCMP.” 2006. Globe and Mail, http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060603.wwarrants0603_3/BNStory/National/home (March 6, 2006).
Nye, Joseph S., Jr. 1995. “Strategy for East Asia and the US-Japan Security Alliance.” Presentation at the Pacific Forum Center for Strategic and International Studies/Japanese Institute of International Affairs Conference, San Francisco. http://www.defenselink.mil/speeches/1995/s19950329-nye.html.
Pollara. 2002. Public Opinions and Research. http://www.pollara.ca/library.html.
Posen, Barry. 1993. “The Security Dilemma and Ethnic Conflict.” Survival 35: 27–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ranum, Marcus J. 2004. The Myth of Homeland Security. Indianapolis: Wiley Publishing.
Sandman, Peter. 2001. “Anthrax, Bioterrorism, and Risk Communication: Guidelines for Action.” www.psandman.com/col/part1.htm.
Saunders, Doug. 2004. “Al-Qaeda raid in Pakistan led to arrests in London—British officials say information gathered is not enough to raise terror alert levels.” Globe and Mail. August 6, A9.
Schneier, Bruce. 2003. Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly About Security in an Uncertain World. New York: Copernicus Books.
Schweller, Randall L. 1996. “Neorealism's Status-Quo Bias: What Security Dilemma?” Security Studies 5: 90–121.Google Scholar
Shipping Facts. 2005. “Shipping and World Trade: Number of Ships (by total and trade).” http://www.marisec.org/shippingfacts/keyfactsnoofships.htm.
Siegel, Marc. 2005. False Alarm: The Truth about the Epidemic of Fear. Toronto: John Wiley and Sons.
Snyder, Glenn H. 1984. “The Security Dilemma in Alliance Politics.” World Politics 36: 461–495.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taliaferro, Jeffrey W. 2000. “Security Seeking under Anarchy: Defensive Realism Revisited.” International Security 25: 128–161.Google Scholar
Tendler, Stewart. 2006. “Foiled transatlantic bomb plot ‘was ready to go in days.’” The Times Online, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,29389-2306721,00.html (August 10, 2006).
The 9/11 Commission Report. 2004b. United States. National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States. http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report.pdf.
UnionLeader.com. 2006. “Border Breach: Hey, it's only a little radioactive material.” http://www.unionleader.com/ (March 30, 2006).
United States. Department of Homeland Security. 2001. Presidential Executive Order. October 8, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/10/20011008-2.html.
United States. Department of Homeland Security. 2004a. “Fact Sheet: Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2005.” Press Release, http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/display?content=4065 (October 18, 2004).
United States. Department of Homeland Security. 2006. Department of Homeland Security Budget-in-Brief. http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/Budget_BIB-FY2006.pdf.
United States. The White House. 2005. “President Discusses Hurricane Relief in Address to the Nation.” http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/09/20050915-8.html (September 15, 2005).
USAToday.com. 2006. “Canada nabs 17 terror suspects in Toronto.” http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-06-03-toronto-terror-suspects_x.htm. (June 3, 2006).
Zakis, Jeremy and Steve Macko. 2002. “Major Terrorist Plot in Singapore Discovered.” EmergencyNet News, http://www.emergency.com/2002/Singapore_terror02.htm (January 12, 2004).