Our Own Worst Enemy

July 23, 2007
As founding director of the Institute for Homeland Security, adviser to the Center for Biosecurity at the University of Pittsburgh and author of previous books about terrorist threats, Larsen might be seen as profiting from fear of terrorist attacks. Refreshingly, he blows the whistle on fearmongers, while for the most part maintaining an understated tone. Larsen criticizes government officials at all levels—Republicans, Democrats and those without political party labels—for spending billions of dollars without a logical rationale. He explains why questions such as “What can we do to ensure that al Qaeda does not smuggle a nuclear weapon into the United States through one of our ports?” are not only uninformed but lead to wasteful spending. Larsen argues persuasively that the priorities should be preventing terrorists from acquiring weapons-grade nuclear material, detecting biological weapon attacks, improving homeland security education and designing information systems that tie together data from a variety of credible sources. The author delivers on his promise for a commonsense guide.