| Book Reviews | Resurgence of the Warfare State: ernment. Certainly, these statutes and the Washington Post on Nov. 4, 2001, The Crisis Since 9/11 the supporting court decisions created advocating reinstating the draft in order the dangerous notion prevalent today: to fight the war on terror. Higgs op- By Robert Higgs that civil liberties may be sacrificed in a poses the draft on libertarian grounds. The Independent Institute, Oakland, CA, 2005. time of war (whether the war is real or These two essays are so limited in their 252 pages, $12.95. imagined). If you need any further per- focus that, unless you have read the suading on this point, Higgs painfully underlying article, you can safely skip reminds us that approximately 160,000 these two short pieces. REVIEWED BY CA R OL A. SIGMOND Japanese-Americans were interned dur- The fourth section discusses the ing World War II, none of whom were way in which the unhealthy relation- “Cry ‘Havoc,’ and let slip the dogs guilty of anything except being of Japa- ship of the military-industrial complex of war”—a line from Shakespeare’s Ju- nese extraction. That these acts were with the Department of Defense results lius Caesar—sums up the disturbing approved of by contemporary society in powerful imperatives favoring war premise of Resurgence of the Warfare and sustained by the courts at that time (real or imagined). The title of one es- State, which is that the so-called war demonstrates the value of war to any say says it all: “Suppose You Wanted on terror is less about battling terror- government that seeks to restrain pub- to Have a Permanent War.” In this sec- ism than about government augment- lic discourse, individual freedom, and tion, Higgs makes three basic points. ing its domestic power at the expense personal privacy. (1) By focusing public attention on a of individual liberty and personal pri- There is a sometimes implicit, some- common enemy, war blurs the social, vacy. Most unsettling is that the book’s times overt, theme that hangs over the class, and political differences within implicit thesis—that throwing out the book—the war on terror is a fraud. society; for example, Higgs notes, the bums in the present administration will According to Higgs, terror by its very United States’ battle with communism do nothing to stop relentless govern- nature is ad hoc, and it is not possi- was a unifying force in this country for ment intrusion into our privacy and ble to wage war against an idea or a 50 years. (2) Government uses periodic liberty—is true. small group in pursuit of an idea, even “crises” attributed to the common en- Resurgence of the Warfare State is if that pursuit is by suicide bombings. emy to maintain a level of fear among a collection of 47 writings by Robert A war requires more—a nation, a ter- the public that allows the government Higgs (assisted by occasional interview- ritory, organized armies, and the like. to continue its power grab at the ex- ers and co-authors) produced between A war on terror, Higgs writes, is by its pense of the people. One needs to Sept. 28, 2001, and Dec. 21, 2004, in- nature a war against individual thought look no further than the Bush admin- cluding interviews, essays, columns, and liberty (and not only that of people istration’s claims of a pending catastro- and a poem. The book is organized by overseas). Higgs’ point is well taken: if phe to distract opponents, such as the topic into eight sections, with the writ- the Bush administration had chosen the bogus claims of the threat of a terrorist ings in chronological order within each right battle, it might have called it the attack that it made just as John Kerry section. Albeit occasionally repetitious, “war against Al Qaeda,” but the Bush began to climb in the 2004 presidential the book works. administration abandoned the hunt for polls. (3) There is always a group that In the first section, titled “Crisis Bin Laden in order to attack Iraq. is financially interested in permanent and Leviathan, Again” (alluding to the The second section of the book, war. As an example, Higgs cites Vice author’s earlier book, Crisis and Le- “Airport (In)Security,” presents a fairly President Dick Cheney’s relationship viathan), Higgs, in his first interview conventional but well-reasoned ar- with Halliburton or the love of public after 9/11, introduces the book’s the- gument about the ineffectiveness of spending by members of Congress in sis: 20th- and 21st-century U.S. gov- government, when compared to pri- their respective districts. ernment leadership has used—and vate enterprise, in delivering the mail For those who do not approve of even sought out—crises in order to or making purchases. But Higgs’ basic the current President, the fifth section expand its powers. Higgs reminds point—that the government is com- of the book is a delight. Higgs consid- us that President Woodrow Wilson, pletely ineffective when it comes to ers whether George W. Bush is “un- with his own versions of the current airport security—has been proved by hinged,” is pursuing a “faith-based for- PATRIOT Act—the Espionage Act of recent reports from the Transportation eign policy,” or has a “crackpot” view 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918—de- Safety Administration that its investiga- of reality. Some will find the author’s finitively put government power ahead tors were able to move bomb-making assessments amusing and others will of public discourse. These statutes frank- parts through airport screening. find them offensive, but Higgs’ real ly sought to stop all criticism of World The third section deals with the pos- point is that Bush’s war on terror and War I and resulted in the conviction of sible revival of the Selective Service and war in Iraq are of a piece with Presi- some 2,000 people who were guilty of the military draft. In one essay, Higgs dent John F. Kennedy’s Bay of Pigs nothing more than criticizing the war, reacts to an opinion piece by Charles disaster and the Cuban Missile Crisis: the draft, the armed forces, or the gov- Moskos and Paul Glastris, published in both resulted from power-hungry nov- 60 | The Federal Lawyer | March/April 2008 ice leaders overdosing on testosterone therefore, this administration has been networks, transportation systems, utili- and using contrived crises and for- no different from any other. ties, and other vital parts of the nation’s eign enemies for domestic purposes. Resurgence of the Warfare State infrastructure. Viewed through Higgs’ lens, I can visu- is intellectually stimulating, and— It is thus fitting that Michael Sheetz, alize the current front-runners for the whether you agree with its thesis or the author of Computer Forensics: An 2008 Democratic and Republican presi- not—you will be challenged by Higgs’ Essential Guide for Accountants, Law- dential nominations making the same meticulous research and compelling yers, and Managers, has a law en- mistakes. Higgs’ point is that the use logic. When you finish the book you forcement background as well as a of crises and foreign enemies is a prac- will be reminded, as I was, of Marc law degree. A frequent contributor to tice that is common to both political Antony’s call: “Cry ‘Havoc,’ and let slip magazines such as Law and Order, Po- parties, and both parties pose the same the dogs of war.” TFL lice Chief, and Police Officer Quarterly, danger to our privacy and freedom. Sheetz has a special interest in com- The sixth section, “Road to War,” Carol A. Sigmond is a partner at Dun- puter crime and served as the sergeant deals with the run-up to the war in nington, Bartholow & Miller, New York, of an investigative team in Ft. Stewart, Iraq. In the period before the war, NY, and is a member of the New York Ga., during Operation Desert Storm in Higgs was generally critical of the idea County Lawyers’ Board of Directors 1991. of a war with Iraq. In hindsight, Higgs and of the New York State Bar House The National Institute of Justice at had it right: Iraq did not pose a threat of Delegates. the Department of Justice also has an to the United States; therefore the war interest in computer crime. In April was unjustified. He makes the point Computer Forensics: An Essential 2004, the institute issued an outstand- best in his parody, “Nuke France.” As Guide for Accountants, Lawyers, ing report on the subject: “Forensic Ex- readers may recall, France was a vigor- and Managers amination of Digital Evidence: A Guide ous opponent of the Iraq war, and an for Law Enforcement.” Sheetz’s book anti-French hysteria arose in this coun- By Michael Sheetz measures up to the standards of this re- try. Against this backdrop, Higgs paro- John Wiley & Sons Inc., Hoboken, NJ, 2007. 152 port and delivers much useful informa- dies the administration’s “logic” for the pages, $50.00. tion in fewer than 150 pages of text. war against Iraq by arguing that France, For novices to the field, Computer with its large number of nuclear weap- Forensics covers the essential stages of ons and its proven delivery system as REVIEWED BY HEIDI BOG H O S IAN the seizure and analysis of computer well as its opposition to the Bush ad- Digital detectives are becoming evidence—namely, collecting and pre- ministration’s war policy, was a more the frontline soldiers of law enforce- serving the evidence and rendering an dangerous enemy of the United States ment.