The Department of Homeland Security’s first director, Tom Ridge, notes that terrorism and the threat of terrorism has become the “new norm,” just as the threat of nuclear war was the new norm for an earlier generation of Americans in the 1950s and 1960s. Ridge, a former congressman and governor of Pennsylvania, has always seemed one of the most level-headed and plain-spoken of government officials.
He takes note in this terrific discussion (video) that during that same era of mutually assured nuclear destruction, the United States prospered socially and economically, as well as engaging in many remarkable events, including the Civil Rights movement, the race for outer space and the Vietnam War.
Earlier this month, marking the eighth anniversary of the Department of Homeland Security, C-SPAN aired this discussion featuring Ridge, his successor, Michael Chertoff and the current Secretary of DHS, Janet Napolitano. The moderator is NBC news correspondent Andrea Mitchell and the event was sponsored by The Aspen Institute and Georgetown University.
While the program is long — 91 minutes — it is an enlightening primer on many aspects of homeland security and the pressures on the department. As noted in the introduction, DHS combined 22 federal agencies in the largest government reorganization since President Harry Truman ordered the armed services to combine into the Department of Defense.
The discussion, as you would expect considering the participants, offers a sympathetic look at the department’s responsibilities, including the role that TSA plays beyond annoying airline travelers with rules about shoes and tiny bottles of liquids. Issues include border security (Napolitano is a former governor of Arizona), civil liberties (Chertoff is a former federal appellate judge and Justice Department official), and the failure of the government to adequately address the disaster of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans.
You can expect many anniversary pieces marking the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, but this one helps remind us all of the changes in our society and out thinking about security and what is now the “new normal” in our culture.
