The Homeland Security Dilemma

This book explores the paradox of the ‘security dilemma’ in International Relations, as applied to the post-9/11 context of homeland security. The book's central argument can be summed up by the following counterintuitive thesis: the more security you have, the more security you will need. It argues that enhancing security does not make terrorism more likely, but rather it raises public expectations and amplifies public outrage after subsequent failures. The book contests that this dilemma will continue to shape American, Canadian and British domestic and international security priorities for decades. In exploring the key policy implications resulting from this, the book highlights the difficulty in finding a solution to this paradox, as the most rational and logical policy options are part of the problem. This book will be of interest to students of Homeland Security, Security Studies, US politics, and IR in general.

Any discrepancy between, on the one hand, the security the public or business community expects in return for its investments (or feels it deserves in return for its sacrifices) and, on the other, the actual level of security the government appears to be delivering will increase public threat perceptions and, by extension, the political pressures to spend even more to fix the problem (Harvey 2004: [...] Everything from abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison, to the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samara, to fears of a civil war in Iraq, to images of angry Muslims involved in violent protests around the world following the publication of caricatures of the prophet Mohammad, to images of kidnap victims (most of whom have been released in return for ransoms) and suicide bombings in Iraq and Afghanistan, to [...] Even if we combine the effects of 9/11, the anthrax attacks, the Bali, Madrid and London bombings, and throw in every other terrorist attack in the world (Iraq and Afghanistan included) over the last two decades, the probability of being a target of a terrorist attack would be infinitesimally tiny. [...] The real problem today, then, is not the 'failure of imagination', it is the 'imagination of failure' that continues to entrench into American domestic politics the main elements of the homeland security dilemma. [...] In fact, the more compelling the logic, arguments and evidence offered to support the existence of a homeland security dilemma, the more obvious the challenges for identifying a coherent set of policy alternatives, because the most rational options are part of the problem.

Why do nations break into one another's most important computer networks? There is an obvious answer: to steal valuable information or to attack. But this isn't the full story. This book draws on often-overlooked documents leaked by Edward Snowden, real-world case studies of cyber operations, and policymaker perspectives to show that intruding into other countries' networks has enormous defensive value as well. Two nations, neither of which seeks to harm the other but neither of which trusts the other, will often find it prudent to launch intrusions. This general problem, in which a nation's means of securing itself threatens the security of others and risks escalating tension, is a bedrock concept in international relations and is called the 'security dilemma'. This book shows not only that the security dilemma applies to cyber operations, but also that the particular characteristics of the digital domain mean that the effects are deeply pronounced. The cybersecurity dilemma is both a vital concern of modern statecraft and a means of accessibly understanding the essential components of cyber operations.

Tracing the origins and examining the dimensions of homeland security challenges, this book analyzes these crises, deepens understanding of the Nigerian security dilemma, and seeks pathways to a more secure homeland.

Theories of democratic transparency and foreign policy success -- Not so exceptional : the theory, uses, and reality of national security secrecy in democracies -- The potential abuses of national security secrecy -- The consequences of potential abuse for public consent -- Solving the secrecy dilemma -- The consequences of national security oversight in democracies -- A view of national security oversight institutions -- Revealing evidence : support, spending and success -- Conclusion -- Implications and innovations -- Apendices: formal models, data and statistical result.

This major new contribution to the study of internatioal politics provides the first comprehensive analysis of the concept of the "security dilemma," the phrase used to describe the mistrust and fear which is often thought to be the inevitable consequence of living in a world of sovereign states. By exploring the theory and practice of the security dilemma through the prisms of fear, cooperation and trust, it considers whether the security dilemma can be mitigated or even transcended analyzing a wide range of historical and contemporary cases

8. Ethnic conflict and refugees, by Kathleen Newland