What is Security?

What is Security?

Though it may seem obvious, it’s actually rare that politicians and those responsible for national and social policy ask the big questions that should precede legislation as expensive and all encompassing as The Aviation and Transportation Security Act. That may be partly because they’re too painful to ask, as well as impossible to get any clear concensus on the answers from a five hundred member congress. But today, nine years and one major recession after 911, it could be suggested, for instance, that security has less to do with barbed wire, biometric readers, and “E-Verify” than it does with three square meals, a job, and four walls with a roof. Yet every year we spend almost $50 Billion on DHS, TSA, and all the bureaucracy and waste associated with essentially reactive and frequently questionable security practises, institutions and technology. Many of these are clearly unconstitutional. Many are obsolete by the time they are put into place. Almost all can be circumvented by someone with enough motive, creativity, and patience. So why do we do it? Is a national obsession with security (including the popularity of Jack Bauer) clear evidence that the United States has abandoned its rugged individualistic roots that created it in the first place? Or are we the victims of overspecialization, delegation, and a government too big for our own good? When I started this project, I began on the assumption that security was more objective, that it could be predicated on threat and risk statistics. I now know better. What seems excessive to me may be inadequate for Mrs. Johnson, who worries about flying on the best of days. So we can agree that some reasonable percentage of the poulace has to be “comfortable,” or air travel would diminish to a trickle. But “reasonable“ becomes a disproportionately important adjective. The Transportation Security Administration alone spends $6-7 Billion a year, so we’ve gone through almost $50 billion since 911, an amount equal to the gross domestic product for many small countries about the size of Costa Rica. At some point we’re entitled to challenge the federal government on how it spends our money. And we’ve gone way past that point and barely raised a hand.