Functional Homeland Security: Ad Hoc Militias

Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, rides away from the Statue of Liberty on a Coast Guard boat following a naturalization ceremony on Ellis Island in New York. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson


Ad hoc militias, the unintended last line of defense appears to be the most effective. Flight 93 on 9/11, the "shoe bomber's" beat-down from his 2002 attempt, and yesterday's incident demonstrated the capability of citizens protecting themselves when the government has failed in it's basic mission of protecting the nation. Airline passengers and civilians have disrupted more terrorist attack attempts on airplanes than the U.S. government. Whether this is in fact true or not is irrelevant to public perceptions.

Yesterday's Christmas attack attempt serves as the latest example. According to an ABC News report,

The suspect had been in a law enforcement-intelligence database but was not on the government's no-fly list, according to a law enforcement official.

So how was this watchlisted individual subdued? Air marshals perhaps?

Delta spokeswoman Susan Chana Elliott said that "as the plane was getting ready to land" in Detroit "a passenger caused a disturbance" by trying to ignite what was initially reported to be firecrackers.

The man was "subdued immediately," Elliott said. Northwest is a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta.

"There was one guy, who sat on the other side, the right side of the wing because this was on the left side of the wing, and he jumped over the other people and he took care of it," said passenger Peter Smith.

Richard Reid, the man more commonly known as the "shoe bomber" was subdued by passangers on the flight he tried tried to attack.


So what is the record for DHS? Most of us are familiar with the hassle we all go through since August 2006, but one DHS incident stands out the most.

In 2005, Air Marshals shot and killed a mentally-ill man since he

"uttered threatening words that included a sentence to the effect that he had a bomb"... "He then appeared to be reaching into a carry-on bag, and the air marshals proceeded consistent with their training," Mr. Doyle said. "Shots were fired as the team attempted to subdue the individual."

Every time citizens of the U.S. succeed in preventing a terrorist attack against the U.S. it is also a demonstrable failure of the U.S. government.