Wednesday, April 15, 2009

A Homeland Security Director that Disavows Terrorism?

Recently I have been struck by the fact that the new Director of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, has not mentioned terrorism in any public addresses, announcements or news releases. How can this be?

There are two possibilities. One is that there is some sort of concerted effort on behalf of the Obama Administration to not acknowledge terrorism at all. The second is that Napolitano actually believes that there is no threat.

In looking at the first possibility it is clearly plausible. The Obama Administration has already put out the word to stop referencing the "War on Terror", instead they will be calling it something else. Somewhat akin to calling a Moose a Duck, but whatever makes them feel better. My concern, as someone in the anti-terror business, is that the government and the people will lose focus on what is most impotant. Hezbollah has made repeated threats against the homeland recently, and the recent arrests in the UK should indicate the Al Quaida is still active. Losing focus now is dangerous and foolhardy and I hope the administration is not engaged in that dangerous naivete.

In looking at the second possibility, it is less plausible to me. How could anyone believe that there is no threat. However, as we have seen in the first months of this administation, there seems to be lack of direction at times.

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