This is absurd. The department of homeland security as a whole is absurd. It should be dismantled. It was created in a rushed and reactionary manner and now we have an entire department that is not very useful and definitely not useful enough for its cost.

Its ironic as you go through security at an airport that the people as a collective are paying others to either look at you naked (with a machine or human screeners) or pat you down in an intrusive an unnecessary manner.

There are 240,000 employees in the department with a budget of $60.4 billion annually. Since the 1990's there has been a little over 3000 people who have died from terrorism in the United States with two major fatal attacks (Oklahoma City and 9/11). On average this would round to about 150 people per year who have died from terrorism. This is awful and unforgivable but we are planning to spend $400 million per life.

This is based on the assumption that if the DHS were around during these incidents that they would have prevented these catastrophes, but I would argue that to actually prevent them the department would either have to infringe our privacy and rights beyond what is reasonable and spend an inordinate amount of money and resources. In reality, to truly prevent new attacks beyond a reasonable doubt you would have to search individuals all the time at every major public gathering, planes trains, public squares, public buildings, etc.

Its just not worth it. Lets be inclusive. Lets stop attacking are foes preemptively. Lets open up trade. Lets offer education around the world. Lets let people into our borders and include them in our culture and society. Lets make innovations that will bring people out of poverty around the world. This is a better bet for protecting ourselves.

Next time you go through security remember that on average you are paying these worthless government agents $196 each year to touch your privates and buy equipment they don't know how to use.

End it Now. Dismantle the DHS.

posted by mk: 2428 days ago