Along with Jeff, I believe that we need to be taking homeland security more seriously. Here in my home state of Illinois there was an incident (registration required) yesterday that showed that the folks in Springfield weren’t taking security seriously. A man walked into the State Capitol and shot an unarmed security guard dead. The security guard was unarmed. There were no metal detectors in the Capitol. What are the state legislators waiting for? Permission from the Department of Homeland Security? They don’t need it.
This guy could have been a terrorist armed with an automatic weapon, an RPG, or rigged as a suicide bomber for all they knew. That’s not taking the situation seriously.
We will know we are taking homeland security seriously when states, counties, and municipalities stop looking at the War on Terror as an opportunity to get a handout from Uncle Sugar to handle local problems and secure local targets. Waiting for funding for the federal government to handle these problems will always mean that we’re taking money away from New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles to give it to Casper, Wyoming and Wheeling, West Virginia. Casper and Wheeling undoubtedly have their own problems. But they should pay for them themselves.
We will know we are taking homeland security seriously when the federal government starts to secure our borders. It’s estimated that we’re taking in 3 million illegal immigrants annually.
We will know we are taking homeland security seriously when the federal government starts enforcing the laws against hiring illegal workers and slaps penalties on employers of illegal workers that are heavy enough to deter them.
We will know we are taking homeland security seriously when states, counties, and municipalities start cooperating with the federal authorities in stopping illegal immigration rather than viewing illegal workers as a great local resource for cheap labor.
We will know we are taking homeland security seriously when we’re more outraged at the actual deaths of 3,000 of our countrymen than we are at the potential scrutiny of the library books that we check out.
We will know we are taking homeland security seriously when university officials are more concerned about potential terrorists enrolled as students or hired as faculty than they are about discouraging foreign students from enrolling.
We will know we are taking homeland security seriously when employers are more concerned about potential terrorists working for them than they are in bringing in less expensive workers from overseas.
We will know we are taking homeland security seriously when the members of the next 9/11 Commission (and believe me there will be one) stop using it as an opportunity for political posturing or inquiring about the great philosophical questions and start to identify the critical success factors that were required for the attack. The last report didn’t do that.
We will know we are taking homeland security seriously when the federal government does what only it can do and leaves tasks better accomplished by state or local government or private citizens to state and local government and private citizens. And when state and local government and private citizens stand up to these responsibilities.
We will know we are taking homeland security seriously when no presidential candidate can tolerate supporters who believe that the president of the United States or his cabinet officers are a greater danger to the Republic than radical Islamicist terrorists.
