Asia Times: A trillion-dollar concept left undefined (Dept of Homeland Security)

[JohnyCanuck]

Or should that be more aptly named the Dept. of Homeland in-Security?

DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
A trillion-dollar concept left undefined
By Mattea Kramer and Chris Hellman

Imagine a labyrinthine government department so bloated that few have any clear idea of just what its countless pieces do. Imagine that tens of billions of tax dollars are disappearing into it annually, black hole-style, since it can't pass a congressionally mandated audit.

Now, imagine that there are two such departments, both gigantic, and you're beginning to grasp the new, 21st century American security paradigm.

For decades, the Department of Defense has met this definition to a T. Since 2003, however, it hasn't been alone. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which celebrates its 10th birthday this March, has grown into a miniature Pentagon.

It's supposed to be the actual "defense" department - since the Pentagon is essentially a Department of Offense - and it's rife with all the same issues and defects that critics of the military-industrial complex have decried for decades. In other words, "homeland security" has become another obese boondoggle.

http://atimes.com/atimes/World/WORLD-01-010313.html

It might be a boondoggle, but no one deny that there's millions and billions to be made in boondoggles if you are the right person or corporation with the right contacts amongst the boondoggle overseers.