Skating on Stilts: Why We Aren't Stopping Tomorrow's Terrorism

by Stewart A. Baker

Stewart A. Baker, a former Homeland Security official, examines the technologies we love—jet travel, computer networks, and biotech—and finds that they are likely to empower new forms of terrorism unless we change our current course a few degrees and overcome resistance to change from business, foreign governments, and privacy advocates. He draws on his Homeland Security experience to show how that was done in the case of jet travel and border security but concludes that heading off disasters in computer networks and biotech will require a hardheaded recognition that privacy must sometimes yield to security, especially as technology changes the risks to both.

Genres: Nonfiction

360 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book lays out the utterly not shocking argument that government is sometimes well intended but poorly executed. It details the legal/policy failures that led to 9/11 and the changes that were made in response. It goes on to argue that the next generation of terrorists attacks will likely involve computer hacking or biological threats.

It's an extremely detailed read with lots of acronyms and legal wrangling between countries and within our own government. It's an interesting if you are patient and don't mind detailed information.

[Gabriel Schoenfeld · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating memoir of day-to-day life within a major Washington bureaucracy and an insider's analysis of the challenges to domestic security in the post 9/11 era. It is clear from the narrative presented here that our national-security bureaucracies oten operate at cross- purposes—and with maddening inefficiency—even when vital matters are at stake.

[Brendan Illis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is really two books under one name. In the first 2/3rds of the book Baker lays out the legal / bureaucratic history of security measures taken by DHS and the NSA to prevent terrorist attacks, and how those efforts were undercut by politics, bureaucratic turf battles, and a privacy lobby which was unwilling to give an inch on any issue. His thesis is the first part of the book is that it is these roadblocks which cause 9/11 and will cause the next major attack on U.S. soil. This first part of the book is very interesting, but by around page 200 it starts to feel very tedious slogging through yet another turf battle between the DHS and FBI. This is mitigated to an extent by Baker's writing style which is eminently readable, and contains rhetorical flourishes (such as the author's exclamation of "Poppycock!" in response to an argument made by the privacy lobby) which lighten the mood.

The last 1/3rd of the book is where Baker really digs into the meat of the title, "They We Aren't Stopping Tomorrow's Terrorism". Baker covers some of the ways terrorists could utilize modern technology to attack the U.S. (notably cyber attacks and bio-engineering), and how the U.S. is unprepared to stop or respond to such an attack.

Baker's final call is that we cannot deny the government modern information technology and data analytics under the auspices of "privacy". He urges that we cannot stick our heads in the sand and pretend these capabilities do not exist, but that instead we should use them to their fullest ability, and come up with laws and policy which will protect the privacy of citizens.

[Backslash]

The beginning and end were great. The middle was a little draggy...