Overblown: How Politicians and the Terrorism Industry Inflate National Security Threats, and Why We Believe Them

by John Mueller (Author)

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ISBN-13: 978-1416541721

ISBN-10: 1416541721

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Why have there been no terrorist attacks in the United States since 9/11? It is ridiculously easy for a single person with a bomb-filled backpack, or a single explosives-laden automobile, to launch an attack. So why hasn't it happened? The answer is surely not the Department of Homeland Security, which cannot stop terrorists from entering the country, legally or otherwise. It is surely not the Iraq war, which has stoked the hatred of Muslim extremists around the world and wasted many thousands of lives. Terrorist attacks have been regular events for many years -- usually killing handfuls of people, occasionally more than that. Is it possible that there is a simple explanation for the peaceful American homefront? Is it possible that there are no al-Qaeda terrorists here? Is it possible that the war on terror has been a radical overreaction to a rare event? Consider: 80,000 Arab and Muslim immigrants have been subjected to fingerprinting and registration, and more than 5,000 foreign nationals have been imprisoned -- yet there has not been a single conviction for a terrorist crime in America. A handful of plots -- some deadly, some intercepted -- have plagued Europe and elsewhere, and even so, the death toll has been modest.We have gone to war in two countries and killed tens of thousands of people. We have launched a massive domestic wiretapping program and created vast databases of information once considered private. Politicians and pundits have berated us about national security and patriotic duty, while encroaching our freedoms and sending thousands of young men off to die.It is time to consider the hypothesis that dare not speak its name: we have wildly overreacted. Terrorism has been used by murderous groups for many decades, yet even including 9/11, the odds of an American being killed by international terrorism are microscopic. In general, international terrorism doesn't do much damage when considered in almost any reasonable context.The capacity of al-Qaeda or of any similar group to do damage in the United States pales in comparison to the capacity other dedicated enemies, particularly international Communism, have possessed in the past. Lashing out at the terrorist threat is frequently an exercise in self-flagellation because it is usually more expensive than the terrorist attack itself and because it gives the terrorists exactly what they are looking for. Much, probably most, of the money and effort expended on counterterrorism since 2001 (and before, for that matter) has been wasted.The terrorism industry and its allies in the White House and Congress have preyed on our fears and caused enormous damage. It is time to rethink the entire enterprise and spend much smaller amounts on only those things that do matter: intelligence, law enforcement, and disruption of radical groups overseas. Above all, it is time to stop playing into the terrorists' hands, by fear-mongering and helping spread terror itself.

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Editorial Reviews

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Among possible U.S. terrorist targets listed by the Department of Homeland Security are a petting zoo in Alabama and a roadside water park in Florida. By listing such unlikely targets, the administration has heightened fear and the cost of protecting citizens, according to Mueller, a political science professor and national security consultant. He examines how terrorism hypervigilance is threatening civil liberties, the economy, and lives. Mueller explores three themes: terrorist threats are overblown; we can learn from the lessons of previous international threats that they are often exaggerated; and by applying these lessons, we can create policy that reduces fear and the cost of overreaction. Among other observations, Mueller notes that despite fears of chemical attacks, most such weapons are "incapable of perpetrating mass destruction," and our counterterrorism tactics tend to be expensive "self-flagellation" that bolsters the image of the terrorists. If the objective is to keep Americans frightened and willing to spend money and relinquish freedom, then the terrorists are winning, Mueller maintains. Interesting reading on a subject that will continue to hold great political sway. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

John Mueller holds the Woody Hayes Chair of National Security Studies, Mershon Center, and is professor of Political Science at Ohio State University, where he teaches courses in international relations.

He is the author of several classic works of political science and many editorial page columns and articles in The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, Reason, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.

Mueller is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, has been a John Simon Guggenheim Fellow, and has received grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He has also received several teaching prizes.

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Product details

Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Free Press (March 25, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1416541721
ISBN-13: 978-1416541721
Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.8 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 21 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #711,886 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1288 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Specific Topics > Law Enforcement
- #1322 in Books > Law > Criminal Law > Law Enforcement
- #1507 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > International & World Politics > Security

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John Mueller has been getting the issue of threat exaggeration ...

ByAndrew Stigleron February 10, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

John Mueller has been getting the issue of threat exaggeration right for a number of years now. Less than a year after 9/11, he wrote "Harbinger or Aberration?" in the National Interest (Fall 2002), and predicted that the three of international terrorism was "manageable." He was right - and the American national security establishment was wrong.

This book encapsulates many of his arguments on why we're psychologically predisposed to exaggerate threats such as terrorism. Read it and learn.

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Thanks Goodness the Truth!

ByPenny J. Barwickon July 17, 2008

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Finally there is truth in publishing when it comes to terrorism. We all have been so programmed to put plastic on our windows duct them the windows and doorways and then hide our heads in the sand while we shake like a washing machine that is off center when we hear there is a red alert. This book tells the entire truth and shows how politicians, the media and people out to make fast and easy money use those fears against us. It also shows how politicians use the threat for their own gains and political advantages. This book covers everything and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in the subject; even if you're not it will help you get a better understanding of how our fear of what happened on 9/11 is being used against us. The truth finally came out.

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Excellent book!

ByShopbillson January 8, 2013

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This author is great in his field. His research is thorough and credible. I am getting my master's in Homeland security and have used this author as resources several times.

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Five Stars

ByKaren Cumminson September 15, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

My husband loves the book

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EVERYONE needs to read this book! Read it with ...

Byhistoric novel fanon December 5, 2015

Format: Paperback

EVERYONE needs to read this book! Read it with plugs in your ears, to drown out all the calls for war, and all the calls for trillions more in foreign expenditures that accomplish precisely nothing, and all the calls for curtailment of our freedoms, that are infesting the American scene nowadays. You are more likely to be hit by lightning or to win the lottery than you are to be harmed by terrorists. Please wake up America! You are being used by people who want to profit from a drummed-up hysteria.

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How serious is the terrorist threat to the USA?

By2bluesky2on January 23, 2010

Format: Hardcover

Has the "war on terror" been worth the cost? The terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 triggered massive spending and curtailment of liberties in the US - intended to prevent any repeat event.

Mueller points out that the September 11 attack was the most successful terrorist attack in history. Nothing anywhere before or since comes close to matching its toll of 3000+ dead and property damage in the $50+ billion range. Other major terrorist attacks have occasionally resulted in death tolls in the 200+ range, with property damage at only a tiny fraction of the September 11 total. Annual death tolls worldwide from terrorist attacks amount to an average of about several hundred. Rarely are Americans affected.

Mueller points out that numerous other types of common calamities cause far more preventable deaths and destruction on an annual basis than terrorists, yet do not generate a fraction of the attention that the "war on terror" gets. Mueller says there is a "terrorism industry" that profits from hyping fears of terrorism. This industry consists of politicians, bureaucrats, experts, and the media. The public seems swayed by the fear mongering from the "terrorism industry" in spite of the comparative insignificance of terrorist attacks.

The "terrorism industry" in the USA is constantly embarrassed by the nearly total absence of foreign terrorist activity in the USA before or since the September 11 attack. Is this absence caused by the effectiveness of the US Department of Homeland Security? Mueller posits that the more likely explanation is that there simply are no domestic terrorist organizations or plots to be countered. The number of people arrested and jailed in the USA for terrorism is practically nil. Enormous sums of money have been spent trying to find the terrorists among us, but there is nothing significant to show for all of that expense.

Mueller recognizes that terrorists exist and need to be dealt with, but they are not a threat to our survival. The history and experience of terrorism in this country tells us the problem is one appropriately assigned to local police, and not the US military. The Iraq and Afghanistan wars have already cost us far more in lives and treasure than was lost in the September 11 attack. And the death and destruction we have inflicted on those countries far, far exceeds any loss we suffered. Our destructive reaction has considerably exceeded the provocation.

Citing numerous historical examples from the past 100 years in the USA, Mueller explains that overreaction to terrorism has always been far more costly than anything the terrorists have done or could ever likely do to us. He notes that it would be far less costly for the government to reimburse people who suffer monetary losses from terrorism than to maintain the "war on terror." In the war on terror, we become our own worst enemies. Terrorism is a tactic intended to provoke fear.

Franklin Roosevelt once said that we have nothing to fear but fear itself. Mueller doesn't go quite that far. He supports preventative action against terrorists commensurate with the threat they pose. But, as he points out throughout his book, the threat has been greatly overblown.

*****

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Most recent customer reviews

Terrorism is overblown? You bet it is

Is the threat of terrorism overblown? Could it be? I am still learning about the American public's answers to that question for my book, but to scholars who study it, there is...Read more

Published on August 1, 2010 by Christopher Haynes

Threat is overblown.

They key to the "War on Terror". is in my opinion stopping illegal immigration. Not the development of what this author calls "The Terror Industry".Read more

Published on May 28, 2010 by zz top

The author is overblown too

Sometimes books are written after detailed research. This book is not one of them. More of a political diatribe than non-fiction, the author attempts to frame every single event...Read more

Published on April 22, 2010 by Al

Great Book

About a year after 9/11, I was thinking there are so many little things terrorists could be doing, Why aren't they?Read more

Published on March 12, 2008 by Bastiat

Wacko 9/11 conspiracy theorists

You can easily understand what this author and his book are all about by observing his actions. Recently, he appeared at a panel on "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid by Jimmy...Read more

Published on August 16, 2007 by Amazon Customer

Subtitle: Terrorism -- Not a big deal

Mueller's thesis, in brief, is that terrorist movements cannot succeed and have never succeeded in their political goals.Read more

Published on April 7, 2007 by Whitetower67

Required Reading for Chicken Licken

This is an interesting, valuable and important book, and I'm fairly sure almost no-one has or, for that matter will, read it. I will do what I can to change that.Read more

Published on March 25, 2007 by Olly Buxton

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