In seeking to evaluate the efficacy of post-9/11 homeland security expenses--which have risen by more than a trillion dollars, not including war costs--the common query has been, "Are we safer?" This, however, is the wrong question. Of course we are "safer"--the posting of a single security guard at one building's entrance enhances safety. The correct question is, "Are any gains in security worth the funds expended?" In this engaging, readable book, John Mueller and Mark Stewart apply risk and cost-benefit evaluation techniques to answer this very question. This analytical approach has been used throughout the world for decades by regulators, academics, and businesses--but, as a recent National Academy of Science study suggests, it has never been capably applied by the people administering homeland security funds. Given the limited risk terrorism presents, expenses meant to lower it have for the most part simply not been worth it. For example, to be considered cost-effective, increased American homeland security expenditures would have had each year to have foiled up to 1,667 attacks roughly like the one intended on Times Square in 2010--more than four a day. Cataloging the mistakes that the US has made--and continues to make--in managing homeland security programs, Terror, Security, and Money has the potential to redirect our efforts toward a more productive and far more cost-effective course.

This book offers a timely and critical reflection on how states have responded to the test of terrorism in the long shadow of 9/11. Terrorism has become the hallmark of international relations in the early twenty-first century. This book provides a policy-focused analysis of how certain states have responded to its test by employing a range of viewpoints that encompass state level responses down to a close interrogation of the nebulous non-state actors who have orchestrated spectacular political violence in contemporary times. It engages with the challenges of terrorism from a variety of perspectives that include philosophical discourses, the perils of counterterrorism encapsulated in the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, learning in counterinsurgency, the effectiveness of counterterrorism spending, Al Qaeda’s modus operandi and the threat posed by Boko Haram to Nigeria. This eclectic collection of chapters is an important contribution to the wide-ranging and contested debate about terrorism that has dominated the political discourse in the West since 2001. This book was published as a special issue of Defense and Security Analysis.

Terrorism and Homeland Security: An Introduction with Applications provides a comprehensive introduction to the problem of terrorism and to its solution, Homeland Security. In addition to its extensive treatment of terrorism, the book describes public and private sector counterterrorism as well as all hazards emergency management. It presents national, state, and local perspectives and up-to-date information, including the reorganization of the Department of Homeland Security, the renewed Patriot Act, and intelligence reform. This book covers a wide range of issues, including such topics as the effectiveness of terrorism; weapons of mass destruction; privatization of counterterrorism; and wars of globalization. Learning objectives and key terms outline chapter content and highlight important topics. Scenarios are placed at the beginning of each chapter to explain concepts and relate theory to practice. The book includes Reality Check sections and critical thinking boxes to help the reader to formulate alternative perspectives on issues and events in order to seek creative and improved solutions to problems. At the end of each chapter are discussion questions that reinforce content and provide an opportunity for the reader to review, synthesize, and debate the key issues; applications that use assessment center and red team techniques to help the student develop analytical and decision-making skills in the context of understanding the mindset and planning processes of terrorist; and web links that provide direction for additional resources, information, and research. This book's primary market are students attending community college homeland security programs, as well as state, federal, and private security training programs. Its secondary market are professionals of the Department of Homeland Security and security professionals belonging to ASIS. - Learning objectives and key terms outline chapter content and highlight important topics. - Scenarios are placed at the beginning of each chapter to explain concepts and relate theory to practice. - "Reality Check" sections and critical thinking boxes help the reader to formulate alternative perspectives on issues and events in order to seek creative and improved solutions to problems. - Discussion questions at the end of each chapter reinforce content and provide an opportunity for the reader to review, synthesize, and debate the key issues. - Web links at the end of each chapter provide direction for additional resources, information, and research.

Since 2001, the United States has created or reorganized more than two counterterrorism organizations for every apprehension it has made of Islamists apparently planning to commit terrorism within the country. Central to this massive enterprise is what the FBI frequently calls "ghost-chasing"-the efforts by police and intelligence agencies to follow up on over ten million tips. Less than one alarm in 10,000 fails to be false-the rest all point to ghosts. And the vast majority of the leads deemed to be productive have led to terrorist enterprises that are either trivial or at most aspirational. As John Mueller and Mark G. Stewart suggest in Chasing Ghosts, it is often an exercise in dueling delusions: an extremist has delusions about changing the world by blowing something up, and the authorities have delusions that he might actually be able to overcome his patent inadequacies to do so. Chasing Ghosts systematically examines this expensive, exhausting, bewildering, chaotic, and paranoia-inducing process. It evaluates the counterterrorism efforts of the FBI, the National Security Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, and local policing agencies. In addition, it draws from a rich set of case studies to appraise the capacities of the terrorist "adversary" and to scrutinize "the myth of the mastermind." Mueller and Stewart also look closely at public opinion, a key driving force in counterterrorism efforts. The chance that an American will be killed by a terrorist within the country is about one in four million per year under present conditions. However, poll data suggest that, although over a trillion dollars has been spent on domestic counterterrorism since 2001, Americans say they do not feel safer. No defense of civil liberties is likely to be effective as long as people and officials continue to believe that the threat from terrorism is massive, even existential. The book does not argue that there is nothing for the ghost-chasers to find-the terrorist "adversary" is real and does exist. The question that is central to the exercise-but one the ghost-chasers never really probe-is an important and rather straight-forward one: is the chase worth the effort? Or is it excessive given the danger that terrorism actually presents? As Chasing Ghosts shows in vivid detail, standard evaluative procedures suggest that the costs often far outweigh the benefits.

The terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 marked a turning point in international politics, representing a new type of threat that could not easily be anticipated or prevented through state-based structures of security alone. Opening up interdisciplinary conversations between strategic, economic, ethical and legal approaches to global terrorism, this edited book recognises a fundamental issue: while major crises initially tend to reinforce old thinking and behavioural patterns, they also allow societies to challenge and overcome entrenched habits, thereby creating the foundations for a new and perhaps more peaceful future. This volume addresses the issues that are at stake in this dual process of political closure, and therefore rethinks how states can respond to terrorist threats. The contributors range from leading conceptual theorists to policy-oriented analysts, from senior academics to junior researchers. The book explores how terrorism has had a profound impact on how security is being understood and implemented, and uses a range of hitherto neglected sources of insight, such as those between political, economic, legal and ethical factors, to examine the nature and meaning of security in a rapidly changing world.

Terrorism is one of the most significant security threats that we face in the twenty-first century. Not surprisingly, there is now a plethora of books on the subject, offering definitions of what terrorism is and proffering advice on what causes it and how states should react to it. But one of the most important questions about terrorism has, until now, been left remarkably under-scrutinized: does it work? Richard English now brings thirty years of professional expertise studying terrorism to the task of answering this complex--and controversial - question. Focussing principally on four of the most significant terrorist organizations of the last fifty years (al-Qaida, the Provisional IRA, Hamas, and ETA), and using a wealth of interview material with former terrorists as well as those involved in counter-terrorism, he argues that we need a far more honest understanding of the degree to which terrorism actually works--as well as a more nuanced insight into the precise ways in which it does so. Only then can we begin to grapple more effectively with what has become one of the most challenging and eye-catching issues of our time.

Defending our Nation against its enemies is the first and fundamental commitment of the Federal Government. Today, that task has changed dramatically. Enemies in the past needed great armies and great industrial capabilities to endanger America. Now, shadowy networks of individuals can bring great chaos and suffering to our shores for less than it costs to purchase a single tank. Terrorists are organized to penetrate open societies and to turn the power of modern technologies against us.From U.S. Security to Terrorism: A Three-Part Series was created by the National Security Council in response to the changing security needs of the United States in a post-9/11 world. Part I, The National Security Strategy of the United States of America, outlines the nation's goals regarding strengthening international alliances, defusing regional conflicts in the Middle East with the hope of preventing the growing threat from weapons of mass destruction, as well as building democracy and promoting economic growth within Islamic nations. Part II, The Global War on Terrorism: The First 100 Days, was issued in 2002 by the Coalition Information Centers. It summarizes specific actions taken by the Bush Administration regarding policies of diplomacy, the complex network of terrorist finances, and military campaigns in Iraq & Afghanistan, humanitarian relief programs including necessary respect for Islam.Part III, The National Security Council's 2003 report The National Strategy for Combating Terrorism, combines the information about the nature of the global terrorist threat today with specific goals and precise objectives on four fronts: defeating terrorist organizations with a global reach, denying support to terrorists, diminishing the underlying conditions that are exploited by terrorists, and defending the United States.

As the twelfth most populous nation, the Philippines diverse religious and ethnic population makes it an ideal example of the changing tenet of what is deemed national security post 9/11. Issues previously considered social or public are now viewed as security issues. Food production is now analyzed in the context of food security and environmenta

Technology and the information revolution have changed the balance of power, both domestically and internationally, and are altering the dynamics of international relations. Technology has altered and corroded the State’s authority and strengthened nonstate actors, in particular transnational crime and terrorist organizations. The technological revolution, though positive in itself, is nonetheless successful in corrupting markets and weakening security. As has been said, cybercriminals and terrorists have already “crossed into the spectrum of information warfare”. This simply means that the same bases of sovereignty and state legitimacy are in jeopardy. The traditional paradigms of international relations are challenged. Postinternational global theories, such as the turbulence paradigm, are now trying to read with new lenses the new state of the world. This publication, enriched by the contribution of so many experts coming from different countries and cultures will contribute to the solution of at least some of the problems and ‘invisible threats’ – corruption, trafficking in documents, high-tech crime and money laundering – that are challenging our societies and our security.

"This book is dedicated with appreciation to the warriors who defend us on foreign soil and the emergency responders and emergency managers who daily confront homeland security's challenges"--P. [v].