Holding steady in 2007…
The Department of Homeland Security, which took such a battering in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2006, managed to hang onto the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), in the face of some angry members of Congress who had recommended dramatic organizational changes.
Perhaps more importantly, the threats to the nation’s domestic security, while worrisome, never materialized in a bloody way in the U.S. itself, even as they emerged in deadly ways throughout the world.
With the transfer of power on Capitol Hill from Republicans to Democrats, the tone of the dialogue about homeland security certainly shifted. Where Republicans Chris Cox of California and Peter King of New York had used their chairmanships of the House Homeland Security Committee largely to defend the Bush administration, the ascendancy of Rep. Bennie Thompson, a veteran Democrat from Mississippi, to the same committee chairmanship, brought a relentlessly critical voice to the debate about homeland security priorities and funding levels.
In my view, 2007 demonstrated once again -- in case anyone needed reminding -- that any presidential administration can withstand an awful lot of criticism from their political opponents and a huge amount of skepticism from the media and the blogosphere without having to acknowledge their own failures and without having to make significant policy corrections.
Through sheer might and determination -- some might call it obstinacy or worse -- the Bush administration has plowed ahead with such controversial initiatives as its Secure Flight airline passenger screening system (which has raised the ire of privacy advocates), the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (which has finally begun to roll-out at seaports across the country, after long delays) and the Strategic Border Initiative (which has ranchers, environmentalists and Mexican politicians arrayed against it.)
Through it all, Secretary Michael Chertoff doggedly criss-crossed the country to rally border patrol agents, TSA screeners and others on the frontlines. Having voluntarily forsaken a lifetime seat on the federal bench, and then missing out on a Bush appointment to replace Alberto Gonzales as the nation’s attorney general, Chertoff has struck me as a well-intentioned technocrat who seems to have enough energy to make it across the Finish Line in January 2009.
For those in the homeland security industry, 2007 may have been the year in which the wild-eyed optimists, who thought they could enrich themselves at the public trough of DHS, discovered that it isn’t so easy to land multi-million dollar contracts. Many of these companies have faded away, and returned to their original industry sectors.
But for the companies that have demonstrated their technological expertise, their management capabilities and their marketing savvy, the homeland security marketplace has proven to be a reliable and hugely rewarding sphere in which they can expand their businesses.
This phenomenon has not been lost on Wall Street and various specialized niches within the nation’s financial community. Capital to plow into promising homeland security companies is readily available, and money men (and women) are continually circling those enterprises that have demonstrated their ability to satisfy Uncle Sam.
All in all, 2007 has been a good, if not great, year for homeland security players… and the future looks bright.
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