Multiple Goals

In the final chapter, Foreign and Defense Policy, we see the President is the main actor. Congress still has a role to play. But to understand how they play it requires us to think of other goals beyond "keeping America safe."

Recall the Dubai Ports debacle, that cost President Bush some political capital with conservatives. While it may not matter much who operates the ports, this was an area where a simple narrative -- "Arab ownership" --outweighs rational argument.

One simple way to secure ports is to require the screening of each container entering the US. But repeatedly, efforts to require this are shot down:

Panel defeats comprehensive cargo screening amendment

By Chris Strohm, CongressDaily
cstrohm@nationaljournal.com
Under intense election-year pressure from interest groups, Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday defeated an amendment from Democrats that would have required all U.S.-bound cargo to be inspected at foreign ports.

By an 18-16 vote, Republicans rejected the amendment, sponsored by Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., during the committee's markup of the House's leading port security bill. Voting for the amendment were all the panel's Democrats, joined by Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., who broke with his party and explained that he believed that Congress needed to establish a firm deadline for scanning cargo abroad.

Like the toungue-in-cheek exam question: it is not that Republicans in Congress hate security. It is that there are competing goals: satisfying a well organized ocnstituency is one. And it is an issue most of us pay little attention to.