challenge ahead for a vital agency, The

Sea Power, Apr 2003 by Hessman, James D

DHS: A Department Born in Crisis

The long-term political, military, and economic consequences of the U.S.-- led attack against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and his brutal regime may well not be known for many months, even years. But if 11 September 2001 was "the day that changed the world," as it has frequently been called, a reasonable case can be made that March 2003 will be remembered as the month that changed the world.

The prewar military buildup in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere in the Middle East continued through the first three weeks of the month. The acrimonious prelude to the war saw a perhaps irreparable sundering of NATO unity, another demonstration of U.N. ineffectiveness in times of crisis, and the creation of deep divisions within and among the American people similar to those that caused such turmoil toward the end of the Vietnam War.

Thanks to the arrest of Khalid Sheik Mohammed, a key lieutenant to Osama bin Laden and alleged "mastermind" of the 11 September terrorist attacks, March 2003 may also be remembered as the beginning of the end for the al Qaeda terrorist organization.

The Second Gulf War itself was the first in which U.S. forces were sent into battle under the "preemptive action" policy announced last June by President George W. Bush in his speech to the graduating class at West Point. That policy, which might also be described as "proactive deterrence," was formulated in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks when Bush addressed the nation, and the world, to announce the beginning of an open-ended global war on terrorism.

Departing from the sometimes ambiguous foreign and national-defense policies of his predecessor, Bush made it clear that not only the perpetrators, but any nation that harbors, aids and abets, or in any other way supports terrorists or terrorist groups would be held just as accountable as those committing terrorist acts.

The start of the Second Gulf War was preceded at home by: (1) the raising of the "terrorist threat level" to Orange ("high risk"); and (2) the deployment of National Guard units, state police, and other law-enforcement personnel to protect such "critical infrastructure" assets as airports and seaports, bridges and tunnels, and chemical and hazardous materials plants and storage facilities.

All agencies of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also were in action or on alert in the first full-scale test of the new department's readiness and capabilities. Many of the 180,000 DHS employees were still relatively new at their jobs. Most security screeners at U.S. airports are recent hires, for example. But others, such as Customs Service and Coast Guard personnel, were doing the same jobs they have been doing for years, albeit with a much greater sense of urgency.

That urgency is not likely to diminish for the foreseeable future, no matter what happens in Iraq, and no matter how long it takes to track down, kill, or capture the remaining al Qaeda leaders. There still will be thousands of al Qaeda rank and file left, and there are dozens of other terrorist groups throughout the world, many of them sworn enemies of the United States. For that reason, last month's Orange alert may be just the first in a long series; it served in any case as a much-- needed baptism of fire for DHS and its senior leadership.

Thanks to the global proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in recent years it is now possible for any reasonably well financed terrorist group to wreak unimaginable havoc on a city or nation, kill thousands-perhaps tens of thousands-of people in one WMD attack, destroy a transportation hub or financial center, or create a global economic crisis. The 9/11 terrorists transformed three civilian passenger aircraft into a new class of WMDs and used them to kill more than 3,000 people. The total might well have been more than ten times that number. DOD (Department of Defense) officials have estimated that the short- and long-term financial costs of the 9/11 attacks are more than $750 billion, and still growing.

The creation of the Department of Homeland Security, headed by former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, was seen as a political triumph for President Bush. It is much more than that, though. It also is explicit recognition, by both the legislative and executive branches of government, that future wars in which American interests are at peril will be fought not only overseas by forward-deployed U.S. forces-the preferred strategy of the 20th century-but also at home: by National Guard and Reserve units, by "first responders" (police and fire department personnel, FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) and the Coast Guard, medical professionals, etc.), and by the American people at large.

Not since the War of 1812 had a foreign enemy launched a major attack against the continental United States. And not since the 7 December 1941 Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor (Hawaii was not a state at that time) had so many Americans, civilians as well as military, been killed on the first day of war. It is now not just the young men and women in uniform who are being sent into harm's way, but ordinary citizens as well.