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Letters & CommentsChristopher Bellavita
Christopher Bellavita teaches at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. An instructor with twenty years experience in security planning and operations, he serves as the director of academic programs for the Center for Homeland Defense and Security. He received his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. He can be reached at christopherbellavita@gmail.com.
Changing Homeland Security: Ten Essential Homeland Security Books
ABSTRACT:
In this essay, Christopher
Bellavita reviews what he considers to be ten essential homeland security
books, those works he finds himself returning to as he seeks to understand
contemporary homeland security events. These include the
9/11 Commission Report (2004);
The National Strategy for Homeland Security (2002);
After: How America Confronted the September 12 Era (2003);
Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror (2004);
America the Vulnerable: How Our Government is Failing to Protect Us From Terrorism (2004);
Homeland Security: A Complete Guide to Understanding, Preventing, and Surviving Terrorism (2005);
Catastrophe Preparation and Prevention for Law Enforcement Professionals (2008);
Trapped in the War on Terror (2006);
Unconquerable Nation: Knowing Our Enemy; Strengthening Ourselves (2006);
and the
Declaration of Independence (1776),
the Articles of Confederation (1777),
and the
Constitution of the United States of America (1787).
Taken together, Bellavita
says, “these works outline a broad historical narrative about homeland
security. We were attacked. We quickly developed a strategy to make sure we
prevented future attacks. We tried to come to terms with what happened to us as
a nation…. Homeland security took the first steps toward becoming
institutionalized.” Not all of the works reviewed in this essay agree with
current policy, but that very disagreement is important. Homeland security gets
better through the open exchange of competing and contrasting ideas. Keeping
this essential debate open and free helps ensure we will remain an
“Unconquerable Nation.”
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SUGGESTED CITATION:
Bellavita, Christopher. “Changing Homeland Security: Ten Essential Homeland Security Books.” Homeland Security Affairs III, no. 1 (February 2007)http://www.hsaj.org/?article=3.1.1