Homeland Security behind the Redwood Curtain

Abstract

This essay takes the reader to the front porch of a roadside inn for conversations about what homeland security means to the people who live within the redwood forests of Humboldt County, California. Through a series of discussions, the author soon realized that homeland security behind the 'Redwood Curtain' has a different connotation than it does to those within the Washington, D.C. beltway. Six years after the September 11th attacks, the author argues it is time to refocus national homeland security policy and strategy on the premise that, like politics, 'all homeland security is local.' Citizens of this country, for the most part, are focused on local issues and bond through local connections -- what has been referred to as 'social capital.' It is this capital that homeland security professionals must draw on to link citizens to the external assets provided by the federal government.