Introduction

"The U.S. government has no more important mission than protecting the homeland from future terrorist attacks."

-- President George W. Bush, July 16, 2002

On September 11, 2001, Americans learned a bitter lesson: Our unparalleled military power may prevent other nations from threatening us, but it cannot deter global terror networks. Catastrophic terrorism is a means by which the weak can inflict horrendous damage on the strong. It demands a two-fold response: destroying terrorist havens abroad, and mobilizing American ingenuity and resources to dramatically heighten our vigilance against attacks in our own homeland.

The Bush administration for the most part rose to the first challenge, destroying al Qaeda bases in Afghanistan and routing their Taliban protectors. But on the equally urgent task of building up America's domestic defenses, it has been a very different story.

In fact, the contrast could not be more striking. While energetic in waging war abroad, the Bush administration has been oddly lethargic in fortifying our defenses at home. Instead of leading the charge to revamp our domestic security agencies, for example, it consistently dragged its feet and brought up the rear. Instead of sparing no expense to make Americans safer, it cut taxes and begrudged our police, firefighters and other front-line defenders the resources they need to secure the home front. Instead of setting strategic priorities for homeland security, it advised Americans to stock up on duct tape and set up a color-coded alert system that has only spread alarm and confusion.

The challenge of defending the homeland against attack by foreign terrorists is unprecedented. Neither the government nor the citizens of the United States had been forced to think about this particular threat before Sept. 11, despite warnings from experts that the country was vulnerable to a major terrorist attack. This new focus on homeland security has brought new social, political, legal, and organizational tensions to the fore. The nation rallied around President Bush when he promised that immediate action to secure the homeland would be his top priority.

It has been nearly two years since the attacks, and it is time to examine the progress that the administration has made toward improving homeland security. To that extent, PPI examined seven major categories and 28 subcategories of homeland security policy and graded the administration's efforts in each to create this report card. Letter grades were given to each subcategory based on analysis by PPI staff and discussion with outside experts and government employees, and were then converted to numbers on a standard four-point scale, with "A" worth four points. The numbers were then weighted to reflect relative importance, and averaged to create the final grades. (See the Appendix for a full explanation of the methodology for determining the grades and averages.)

In spite of satisfactory results in a few areas, taken as a whole, the Bush administration's efforts to protect the homeland have been surprisingly lax and inadequate, earning an average grade of "D." We find that the Bush administration has not brought the same energy and attention to homeland security that it has brought to overseas military efforts. The administration has failed to adequately fund a number of essential homeland security functions. In the absence of presenting a compelling vision of the changes necessary to protect the homeland, the Bush administration has failed to push back on the government bureaucracies that have resisted meaningful change. In short, President Bush has failed to fulfill his promise to make homeland security his top priority. Meeting the new challenge of homeland security requires strong leadership, creativity, and vision; President Bush has demonstrated few of these qualities on the home front.

Some may argue that the Bush administration should be given more time to make progress on homeland security, that expecting significant improvements in our safety would be too much to expect since the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has only been in existence for half a year. It is important to remember, however, that legislation creating DHS would have been enacted long before if it had not been for the many months of opposition by President Bush and now-Secretary Tom Ridge (who said he would recommend that the president veto any bill creating DHS). Moreover, the agencies with responsibility for homeland security, many now folded into DHS, existed even before the creation of the new department. Therefore, it is entirely appropriate to judge the president's efforts dating back to that fateful day in September. Taken together, these grades present a comprehensive picture of the administration's homeland security efforts, highlighting successes where they exist and pointing to areas where improvement is needed to keep the nation safe.