This Coast Guard story is a terrific example of how the War on Terror works. Indeed it would be useful, and fascinating, for readers of this blog to post descriptions here of their own discoveries of the imaginative ways that government agencies, interest groups, and lobbyists seek to identify their favorite projects and long-cherished agenda items with the War on Terror.

In Trapped in the War on Terror I supply dozens of examples, including veternarians clamoring for more funds to prepare for a hoof and mouth disease attack on our cattle herds, and pharmacists asking for support to created "pharmaceutical SWAT teams" as first responders in case of terrorist attacks. 

Here's another example of the War on Terror at work. At a recent counter-terrorism conference at RAND that I attended in Santa Monica,  a speaker from the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) said that his office was responsible for putting together the "National Integrated Plan" (NIP) for fighitng the War on Terror domestically. He reported that the process entailed pasting the individual plans of large numbers of agencies at different levels of government with regard to what they would each be able to "throw" into the War on Terror. He said that in light of the enormous amount of money involved it was not surprising that virtually every department and bureau submitted a plan, except maybe, he thought, the Department of Housing and Urban Development. With a twinkle in his eye he added, "But give me some time, and I'm sure I can think of something they could throw at the terrorism problem too." My comment was that if he thought he would be able to think of something any agency might propose to do, imagine how easy it would be for desperate bureaucrats in those agencies to think of "crucial" roles they could play in the War on Terror.