A new report card for homeland security
Steve Flynn from the Council on Foreign Relations issued a report card for the nation’s homeland security efforts, and the grades that he gives are the kind that any child would try to hide from his or her parents:
Port Security: D+
Nuclear Plant Security: B/B+
Air Defense: B
Airport Security: C+
Border Control and Immigration: C
Chemical Plant Security: D-/F
Disaster Response: C-
Bridges, Tunnels, and Other Infrastructure: C
Public Relations: D
I would probably give more favorable grades for some of these, such as airport security and border security, but that’s partially a function of the fact that I’m a product of the era of grade inflation, where a B- is considered a poor grade. But some of these grades – notably Chemical Plant Security and Public Relations – are deservedly poor, given the track record of DHS and Congress over the past couple of years.
Steve has a podcast on the CFR site that explains these grades in greater detail. And his new book The Edge of Disaster will be hitting bookstores in early 2007.
