Heimatschutzministerium Outsources Border Defense to Private Sector

The Heimatschutzministerium, what Mr. Bush calls his “Department of Homeland Security”, has decided it can’t handle America’s border problem so it is going to let someone else do it. Northrop-Grumman, Ericsson, Boeing, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin are all bidding to decide how to protect America from illegal aliens and potential terrorists. A new motto for the department is in order, “tell us how to do our business.”

The “Secure Border Initiative” sounds good; secure borders are a net plus and initiative is a noun that sounds remarkably like a verb, implying action. Of course, impressive sounding names exist in government to cover the warts and blemishes in every project. In this case, the problem lies in the abdication of responsibility to the private sector, and its decision to use technology rather than human beings, capital rather than labor. At $2 billion, it’s a windfall for the shareholders that doesn't address the right problem.

The Heimatschutzministerium is a pointless body that has proved itself incapable of anything more complicated than the Crayola color-coded terror threat chart – it let New Orleans drown. MSNBC reported, “Michael P. Jackson, the deputy director of the Homeland Security Department, told the competing firms earlier this year he wanted them ‘to come back and tell us how to do our business’.” So much for professionals in the department, but then, this is the same group that spent millions to buy cameras to monitor the border, only to discover they failed in the extreme heat of Arizona’s desert.

In a few days, Mr. Jackson will announce to the world how the private sector has told him to do his business. Lockheed offers blimps twice the size of Goodyear’s, while Northrop believes in drones that fly at 65,000 feet. Raytheon wants the border agents to monitor the border using Google Earth, and Boeing says building 1,800 towers is the way to go, but cell-phone maker Ericsson (a Swedish firm, by the way) wants border guards to carry wireless devices to increase information flow.

All of which is marvelous for gathering data about who’s crossing the border where, but so what? John E. Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, said it best, “It doesn't matter how much money you spend on the sensors. If you don't spend a commensurate amount to put agents in Humvees to go out and catch suspects, it won't make a bit of difference. All you'll do is get a better sense of how they're coming in.” Not enough boots on the ground, again. Mr. Bush likes to talk about “working hard,” about “doing the hard work of government,” of national security issues being “hard.” Maybe the country would be better off if it had someone in charge who found these matters were easy, someone competent.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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