Ascendancy through Perception: the Importance of Dedicated Investment in Academic Homeland Security Research and Inquiry

Abstract

"The events of September 11, 2001 forever altered America'۪s perception of its own vulnerability and focused the entire nation upon the immediate and urgent objective to secure itself in such a way as to prevent such a dire tragedy from ever occurring again. But uncertainty remains a persistent product of such threats that defy precise clarity, threats that possess an inherent variability that defies any decisive quantification and evades resolution. This essay seeks to provide a rational basis by which investment in our nation'۪s academic institutions of higher education and research will yield a definitive course of reasoned response. The application of a sustained academic expenditure remains a critical necessity. Knowledge and understanding ''' through academic research and inquiry ''' is our nation'۪s best and most resolute endeavor."