Julian E. Zelizer: Blame Game Won't Stop Terrorism
[Julian E. Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School. His new book is "Arsenal of Democracy: The Politics of National Security -- From World War II to the War on Terrorism" published by Basic Books.]
Almost as soon as the botched Christmas airplane bombing hit the airwaves, the politics of national security reared its head…
While politicians play the blame game when things go wrong -- looking for the individual at fault -- what is more important is to look at public policies and government institutions to understand how our system in fact did not work. In this case, we are talking about the policies of multiple countries…
The Christmas incident made clear several problems. The first is that we are still having trouble connecting the dots. This was one of the main problems that revealed in the examination into 9/11; authorities had a substantial amount of information about the perpetrators but they failed to share it with each other or to put the story together…
A second question has to do with airline security. Once the decision was made to allow him to fly, it is simply confounding that he was able to bring high explosives on board with relative ease. As UCLA professor Amy Zegart, the author of the best book on intelligence reform, recently told the New York Times: "This textbook Al Qaeda 2001. They tried to hit the hardest target we have, the one on which the most money and attention has been spent since 2001. And yet we didn't prevent it."
The government must review our airline security program. In Politico, Josh Gerstein provided a useful analysis of issues that must receive more consideration now. For example, more thought will have to be given to allowing for the assemblage of a more expansive "no-fly" list. Governments will need to think about additional funding for installing whole-body imaging technology for airports that has been slowed down by privacy concerns and budgetary limitations…
There has been a ongoing debate about expanding the number of air marshals on airplanes and training other personnel so that they can better handle these kinds of situations. The Israeli airline, El Al, has famously depended on having undercover air marshals on their flights as one component of its successful deterrent strategy. Doing this on every flight would of course be prohibitive, but it is worth considering whether we are doing enough to provide flights enough marshals as a last line of defense.
These are just some of the questions to come out of this incident that must be examined…
Read entire article at CNN
Almost as soon as the botched Christmas airplane bombing hit the airwaves, the politics of national security reared its head…
While politicians play the blame game when things go wrong -- looking for the individual at fault -- what is more important is to look at public policies and government institutions to understand how our system in fact did not work. In this case, we are talking about the policies of multiple countries…
The Christmas incident made clear several problems. The first is that we are still having trouble connecting the dots. This was one of the main problems that revealed in the examination into 9/11; authorities had a substantial amount of information about the perpetrators but they failed to share it with each other or to put the story together…
A second question has to do with airline security. Once the decision was made to allow him to fly, it is simply confounding that he was able to bring high explosives on board with relative ease. As UCLA professor Amy Zegart, the author of the best book on intelligence reform, recently told the New York Times: "This textbook Al Qaeda 2001. They tried to hit the hardest target we have, the one on which the most money and attention has been spent since 2001. And yet we didn't prevent it."
The government must review our airline security program. In Politico, Josh Gerstein provided a useful analysis of issues that must receive more consideration now. For example, more thought will have to be given to allowing for the assemblage of a more expansive "no-fly" list. Governments will need to think about additional funding for installing whole-body imaging technology for airports that has been slowed down by privacy concerns and budgetary limitations…
There has been a ongoing debate about expanding the number of air marshals on airplanes and training other personnel so that they can better handle these kinds of situations. The Israeli airline, El Al, has famously depended on having undercover air marshals on their flights as one component of its successful deterrent strategy. Doing this on every flight would of course be prohibitive, but it is worth considering whether we are doing enough to provide flights enough marshals as a last line of defense.
These are just some of the questions to come out of this incident that must be examined…