Beyond DHS

Jesse Walker | January 23, 2006

Yesterday's Arizona Republic includes an interesting report on the role of private protection agencies in homeland security. Among other intriguing facts, the article notes that "more than three-fourths of the nation's most likely terrorism targets" are guarded by the private sector.

Comments

|1.23.06 @ 1:50PM|#

...."more than three-fourths of the nation's most likely terrorism targets" are guarded by the private sector.

All the more reason to nationalize those protection agencies now! Look what it did for airport screeners.

|1.23.06 @ 3:37PM|#

Woo-hoo! Private security now outnumber public police almost 3 to 1 (1.5 million to 600,000). But they say that private security are better now because of state regulation. :-/
Heck, we'll probably become anarcho-capitalist and most people won't realize it for years after the fact.

|1.23.06 @ 3:49PM|#

Well, I am glad I read the article. I misread the Reason line as "'more than three-fourths of the nation's most likely terrorists' are guarded by the private sector."

I thought, "Well, yeah, I mean that's what hiring mercenaries is all about right?"

|1.23.06 @ 4:17PM|#

Does anyone have a figure of exactly how many people are employed with private companies that do work exclusively (or nearly exclusively) for the government?

DaveInBigD|1.23.06 @ 8:52PM|#

Private officers are defending power plants, oil refineries, financial centers, computer systems, dams, malls, railroad lines and other prospective terrorism targets.

Dams are about the only ones that I'd raise even consider to be the anywhere within the purview of government to protect. Oil refineries, malls, rail lines, computer centers, and most power plants are private, for-profit entities. They should be paying for their own security.

Dams may be privately maintained, but they're certainly 'public infrastructure' in that most are on navigable, and therefore public, waterways.

As for malls, duhh. Who ever thought those weren't rent-a-cops? Didn't these folks see Mallrats?