Your July 7 lead editorial, "Measuring Safety," on setting standards
for homeland security raised all the right questions, and began
providing some good answers too. Earlier this year, the Lexington
Institute undertook a study to rigorously assess the Bush
administration's homeland security efforts to date. Based upon a review
of government proposals and plans, we identified 12 functional areas
whose aggregate represents the homeland security effort.
A team
of 12 nationally recognized scholars was assembled to perform written
assessments of the current state of each area. Their papers are
published on our Web site at
www.lexingtoninstitute.org/homeland/index.asp.
These
participating experts included the former chief executive of El Al
Airlines, a former U.N. chief nuclear weapons inspector, an author for
the Hart/Rudman Commission's homeland security assessments and the
former chief of the Domestic Counterterrorism Planning Section of the
FBI.
The answer, as your editorial suggested, is mixed. But as
Gordon England, the deputy secretary of homeland security, has pointed
out, this problem will take decades of effort, not unlike the struggle
against Soviet communism. It already has begun with a rigorous
cost-benefit analysis that develops a sensible strategy to put
resources and effort where they are needed most. It also begins with
improved intelligence collection and analysis, and the creation of the
Terrorist Threat Integration Center may be one of the most significant
successes to date in securing the homeland.
The continental
United States has not been attached since 9/11. Our military is on the
other side of the world rounding up and killing terrorists, and already
has overthrown two governments in response to the 2001 attack. In those
same 21 months, the federal government has been reorganized to deal
with this pernicious new threat.
It's pretty easy to be a critic
booing from the bleachers with a make-believe, unlimited budget. It's a
lot harder to actually get the job done, and thus far the results
suggest a sense of urgency has captured the government, and progress is
being made.
