Homeland Security Watch

Comment by William R. Cumming

November 18, 2010 @ 10:58 am

And a new catastrophe may await Haiti on the 28th of November when it votes for its President.

Fortunately, Cholera in US is unlikely due to some basic public health standards including water supply and treatment. But who knows?

Comment by Dan O'Connor

November 18, 2010 @ 2:39 pm

I’d like to add a couple of additional thoughts to Bill’s point of view;

“And a new catastrophe may await Haiti on the 28th of November when it votes for its President.”

Although I think all governments have their respective issues, Haitians have a history of making less than desirable choices. I wonder if it’s simply the culture, the crime, or the reality of their economic situation. Who is to say? It is easy to speculate from afar.

“Fortunately, Cholera in US is unlikely due to some basic public health standards including water supply and treatment. But who knows?”

Although I do agree with your assessment that it is unlikely Cholera will become a United States issue, it does demonstrate again how fluid, rapid, and simple it is to move human borne illness and pathogens around the globe.

There is a small bit of irony in this for me in terms of the recent explosion of scrutiny placed on TSA and their outbound screening procedures. We have spent endless hours and millions of dollars both perfecting and justifying use of advanced technologies to prevent introduction of explosives and weapons into our air travel system. How much have we spent on a biological and pathogenic detection? How much have we invested in these screening methodologies for inbound air-traffic from outside of CONUS?

I would imagine that there is some crossover necessary between ICE, BCP, HHS, and TSA screening. Would that not constitute a broad homeland security requirement? It does again demonstrate that our systems are not as nimble or adaptive as their biological equivalent.

I think the bigger picture to at least discuss on some level is responsibility. Do we the United States have an inherent responsibility to simply protect our borders or inject ourselves completely into the Haitian situation? That question while perhaps rhetorical, demonstrates how potentially ineffective our foreign policy and homeland security interoperability is. Too strong a statement? Perhaps.

It is the larger, more altruistic question; are we doing enough of the right stuff as opposed to more of the other stuff? On some levels it creates huge contradictions. How much are we supposed to help and how much are we expected to help? And with that expectation, how long are we supposed to stay and how much are we supposed to spend?

So there is a question of altruism versus obligation, generosity versus responsibility. So is it in our best interests as a nation to repair and rebuild Haiti? Because if it is what does that say about our response to the 9th Ward in New Orleans? This gets very complex very fast.

I do not think we can dismiss the impact of lawlessness, human nature, and exploitive nature of both criminal elements and desperate people. We have seen time and time again a variety of foreign aid politicized by governments and criminal elements. Will we now see that in our own hemisphere or has it always been present and we are just now becoming acutely aware?

Concurrently, the debt reduction bipartisan commission is recommending some severe austerity medicine including but not limited to:
- Cuts in domestic/military spending
- 15 cent/gallon tax hike
- Increasing retirement to 69 from 67 and reducing cost of living increases
- Reduction of a variety of predetermined social programs and benefit programs
- Eliminating/reducing mortgage interest deduction, child credit, earned income tax credit and a host of other initiatives.

How will all of this economic contracting and spending reduction affect our ability to shape foreign-policy, maintain a sphere of influence, and deliver, what most of the world believes is our innate responsibility, humanitarian aid and assistance?

Again is that a presumptive United States-centric point of view or simply a reality? I’d be interested in what other readers and participants in the blog thing about this.

Comment by rageahol

November 21, 2010 @ 5:41 pm

cholera is caused by a bacteria, not a virus. it is spread by water or food contaminated with feces that contain the bacteria.

in countries with functioning sanitary sewer systems, there is so little risk of cholera spreading as to be laughable.

Comment by Philip J. Palin

November 22, 2010 @ 3:17 am

Rageahol:

Thanks. I apologize for the error: caused by a combination of stupidity and rapidity… a dangerous duo. I have edited the original post.

Phil