Every year around September 11, the establishment media dedicates many hours to remembrance of the terrorist attacks of 2001. There is nothing wrong with this in and of itself, but true to form, they never let an opportunity to push statist propaganda go to waste. Interwoven in the memorial shows are calls for continued and expanded measures to combat terrorism (except ceasing to arm, train, fund, and motivate them, of course) and provide national security, all of which can supposedly be done only by the state. As such, it is a good time to discuss not only how the concept of national security is misguided, but why there is really no such thing as security.

National Security

National security is the idea that a state should protect itself and its citizens against all types of dangers through all available power projections. This encompasses cyber security, economic security, energy security, infrastructure security, etc. But the idea of national security implicitly assumes that there exists such a thing as a nation. If existence is correctly understood, this assumption is false. Existence requires a concrete and particular form in physical reality, for without such a constraint, a thing may be said to exist without anything more than a base assertion. As such, a nation does not exist; each person, each building, each trade good, etc. exists. Thus, it makes no sense to speak of national security apart from the security of each person, each building, each trade good, etc. We should therefore individualize the subsets of national security as much as possible and realize that national security is not achieved unless every person, every building, every trade good, etc. is secure.

Subsets of National Security

Cyber security is the protection of electronic information systems from damage, theft, and hacking. But any expert in the field knows that cyber security does not really exist; there are only various levels of insecurity. Measures can be taken to encrypt data or make passwords more difficult to hack, but a hacker with enough time, resources, and luck can get into any system. And of course, a system is only as strong as its weakest point of attack, meaning that hackers will always have some way in.

Economic security is the condition of having stable resources to support a standard of living. This requires continued solvency, continued income, and security of resources. But this cannot be guaranteed. A source of income may disappear at any time; a job may be lost, a donor may stop giving, a resource may run out, and so on. There is also no certainty that resources in one’s possession will stay there. Even with the best security measures, thieves and scammers can still find ways to plunder people.

Infrastructure security is the protection of transportation networks, essential services, and utilities from contamination, decay, and sabotage. This is necessary for modern life to continue, as disruptions to critical infrastructure would cut off the flow of goods and services to people who could not easily manage without them due to the effects of interdependence. Yet again, there is no way to prevent all natural disasters, cyber attacks, and terrorism that may threaten the grid.

Personal Security

Each of us is not even secure in our own physical bodies. This fact alone would negate any possible security mentioned above, as security is meaningless to the dead. Speaking of death, there is no guarantee that a reader of this article will survive long enough to finish reading it. Even if one has taken care of one’s health and acquired means of protection, there is no reason why one cannot expire of a medical condition that has gone undetected by doctors, an assassin’s bullet, a wayward car that crashes into one’s room, or even a falling meteor. As none of these are completely preventable, there is no such thing as personal security.

Liberty, Not Security

It is clear that security cannot really exist, and that which cannot be done should not be attempted. But this is not to say that we should leave our doors unlocked, give up our guns, and generally do nothing to defend ourselves. There is no such thing as security, but there is temporary and limited protection from particular dangers. What can be done, and what should be attempted, is to defend people against attacks upon life, liberty, and property without violating said lives, liberties, and properties in the process. (For if they are violated in the process, then the terrorists have achieved an important victory without even lighting a fuse or firing a shot.) To quote Tom Robbins, “There’s no such thing as security in this life sweetheart, and the sooner you accept that fact, the better off you’ll be. The person who strives for security will never be free.”

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