America the Vulnerable: How Our Government Is Failing to Protect Us from Terrorism

by Stephen Flynn

Book Overview

In this powerful and urgently needed call to action, national security expert Stephen Flynn offers a startling portrait of the radical shortcomings in America's plan for homeland security. He... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060571284
• ISBN13: 9780060571283
• Release Date: July 2004
• Publisher: Harper
• Length: 234 Pages
• Weight: 1.06 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

We Are Sitting On A Time Bomb

That is how one of the chapters starts. It's a matter of when the next terrorist attack will happen, not if it will happen, according to the author, Stephen Flynn. With absolute simplicity, common sense logic, and an irrefutable argument, he demonstrates how and why our government is failing to protect us from the terrorist threat. Industry and government are not willing to take the time and the money required to provide greater security for a war on terrorism that will never end. Our water and food supplies, our chemical plants, and our ports are alrmingly unsecure from terrorist attack. Flynn creates a terrorist scenario demonstrating how the terrorist threat can become reality. He asserts our enemies are willing to spend the time to create the act of terror, while we are not willing to spend the time defending ourselves to foil it. He blames industries which see no benefit in spending the money on security which will be passed on to their consumers, while non-security minded companies will maintain lower prices and take business away from the security-conscious ones. This means that congress must act. It must set security standards that will be implemented across each industry thus spreading the cost to everyone. So far, congress, not wanting to offend their million dollar contributors have done nothing. Flynn also suggests that Americans must be willing to make the sacrifices necessary for this security. We are operating on a World War II mentality i.e. the best defense is a good offense by taking the fight to their countries. That is not what Flynn recommends. Terrorists will always be able to get into this country. We must strengthen our security at home which will take years of dedicated preparation and action. The author's book is a siren song. The beginning of his fourth chapter bears repeating as a end to this review. "When it comes to dealing with the new security agenda, Americans need to grow up....Terrorism is simply too cheap, too available, and too tempting ever to be totally eradicated. We must have the maturity both to live with the risk of future attacks and to invest in reasonable measures to rein in that risk." For those who use the argument that we haven't been attacked since 9/11, remember, it took five years of planning. 9/11 is now more than five years ago. Truly, American apathy and complacency are the terrorists' greatest allies.

An incredibly important book.

Stephen Flynn's work is a clear headed examination of the gaps in U.S. homeland security, focusing on frightening weaknesses in maritime and shipping container security. Given the topic and importance, the book is surprisingly short and relatively easy to read. This is, I suspect, by design to engage an audience other than security professionals in a debate of national importance. Flynn outlines how failures of political will, bureaucratic infighting and lack of coordination between scores of government agencies have resulted in a hodgepodge of ineffectual (at best) or non-existent security safeguards. The second chapter, a frightening but seemingly plausible worst case terrorist attack scenario, serves as a springboard for subsequent chapters which detail various facets of U.S physical, process and institutional defensive weaknesses. What I found particularly interesting is the author's explanation about how the impact of decisions made to close borders, stop shipping and trade based upon the lack of knowledge of the extent and breadth of an attack, may be far more disruptive than the attack itself. Fortunately, while Flynn sees many problems, he sets forth a compelling vision of achievable, practical measures that can be taken to address them. For instance, he warns against spending massive sums of money and large amounts of time designing and deploying so called best in class defensive mechanisms, asserting that this approach would effectively be easily circumvented by an enemy simply choosing to focus on an area for which a hardened defense has not been developed. Instead, he advocates deploying multiple layers of less expensive, pretty good (my words, not his) defensive measures that can be deployed widely and easily changed and adapted as needed. Another interesting idea he advocates is setting up a federal security system organized along the lines of the Federal Reserve System. His belief is that it is critical that national security needs be coordinated on both a national and local level and that the federal reserve model is a successful example of such a system. Personally, this is way beyond my area of expertise and I'll leave it to others to comment on the feasibility of this concept. Since I've read this book several months ago, I've seen the author on several TV programs and heard him interviewed on NPR. In at least one of these appearances, he made the observation that the U.S. has spent nearly 400 million dollars on enhanced port security over the past 3 years. He then went on to say that, while this sounds like a lot of money, much, much more needs to be spent to provide the U.S. mainland with adequate protection in one of our most vulnerable areas. He further noted that 400 million dollars is about what is spent in Iraq every 3 days. He takes issue with the oft made claim that "a good defense is a good offense", insisting that we must have both, and that defense should not be sacrificed or is unnecessary because of U.S. offen

A Must Buy for those serious about National Security

Written in a straightforward, accessible manner, Flynn is able to clearly articulate the dangers we face here in the homeland while offering some constructive suggestions to get our leaders moving in the right direction. Thankfully, the latter sections on the things we can do to mitigate the dangers somewhat offsets the scariness of the current situation. Overall, his background and credentials lend credence to the frightening vulnerabilites he postulates about. I just hope someone in a position to do something about it takes the time to take his critiques seriously -- perhaps even inviting him into the discussions that will lead to some positive changes in our heretofore limited work towards true preparedness. After you finish reading this book, pass it along to your Congressional Representative!

The `MUST' read for maritime intel...

Dr. Flynn provides meaning to the issues of national security, which is the essence of intelligence. By `adding value' to the sea of raw data, telltale signs, and signals America the Vulnerable becomes the indispensable volume for everyone interested in maritime intelligence matters. The current series of terrorist atrocities, along with the plague of transnational threats including, drug trafficking, illegal immigration, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction gives concern for reading information correctly. Beyond that there is a call for action. The oceans are no longer our primary mechanism for defense. These issues and more are brilliantly discussed in America the Vulnerable. Because Dr. Flynn possesses that rare combination of experience at sea as a United States Coast Guard Officer and academician there is no better authority on the subject of maritime intelligence, national and homeland security/defense, and the best means for expending precious U.S. resources. Not one to define a problem without a solution, Dr. Flynn provides insight, candor, and imagination to solving U.S. security issues. I recommend this work as the keystone to a Maritime Intelligence course.