Review Essay: Homeland Security

• DOI: 10.1177/1057567707310552
• Published date: 01 December 2007
• Author: Robert R. Friedmann
• Date: 01 December 2007
• Subject Matter: Articles

Review Essay
International Criminal
Justice Review
Volume 17 Number 4
December 2007 336-339
© 2007 Georgia State University
Homeland Security
Research Foundation, Inc.
10.1177/1057567707310552
http://icjr.sagepub.com
Robert R. Friedmann
hosted at
Georgia State University, Atlanta
http://online.sagepub.com
Amass F. S., Bhunia, A. K., Chaturvedi, A. L., Dolk, D. R., Peeta, S., &
Atallah, M. J. (2006). Advances in Homeland Security, Volume 1:
The Science of Homeland Security. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue
University Press. pp. 227.
Amass F. S., Chaturvedi, A. L., & Peeta, S. (2006). Advances in
Homeland Security, Volume 2: Guiding Future Homeland Security
Policy. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press. pp. 152.
Nicholson, W. C. (Ed.). (2005). Homeland Security Law and
Policy. Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas. pp. 377
The term homeland security came into being after the September 11, 2001, terror atrocities com-
mitted against the World Trade Center by using American passenger jets (American Airlines Flight
11 at 8:45 a.m.; United Airlines Flight 175 at 9:03 a.m.), the Pentagon (American Airlines Flight 77
at 9:37 a.m.), and one more target that was not reached because the passengers overcame the
terrorists, and United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in a Pennsylvania field.
The newness of “homeland security” was not precipitated because there were no previous attacks
against the United States abroad or even at home. The attacks on EgyptAir 990 (off the Long Island
coast on October 31, 1999), the Embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam (August 7, 1998),
Pan Am 103 bombing over Scotland (December 21, 1998), and the attack on the USS Cole (January
19, 2001) are but a few examples of carefully calculated and executed terror attacks against the
United States abroad. But, there were attacks against the United States on U.S. soil. The most famous
attack was against the World Trade Center (February 26, 1993), and the other was the Oklahoma
City attack (April 19, 1995) aimed at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, a U.S. government
office complex in downtown. A report on the first World Trade Center bombing maintains that “The
statistics are staggering: Six people died and 1,042 were injured” (Manning, 1993). Perhaps these
statistics were not staggering enough to bring about the emergence of homeland security.
Until the September 11, 2001, attack, dealing with incidents with victims and with damage to
property would have been relegated to police departments (local, state, federal) and/or emergency
management agencies (county, state, or federal). Such incidents were generally subsumed under
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