Kathe Callahan Rutgers University – Newark Melvin J . Dubnick University of New Hampshire Dorothy Olshfski Rutgers University – Newark Enhancing War Narratives: Framing Our Understanding Homeland Security from of the War on Terror a Public Administration Perspective Kathe Callahan is an assistant Unlike past American wars, the current war on terror circumstances surrounding the current war on terror professor of public administration at has not been associated with a centrally proff ered in light of the absence of a clearly articulated state- of- Rutgers University – Newark. She has published work on the topics of citizen narrative providing some guidance and orientation for war narrative. Specifi cally, we will focus on the mean- participation, government performance, those administering government services under state-of- ing of four latent war narratives that have fi lled that and accountability. Her most recent book, war conditions. War is as much a cultural endeavor as void and explore the impact of these narratives among Elements of Effective Governance: Measurement, Accountability and it is a military undertaking, and the absence of a clear three groups of public administrators whose work and Participation , will be published this fall by sensemaking narrative was detected in this study of public lives are aff ected by the current state of war. Th e idea Auerbach Publications. administrators from three agencies with varying proxim- of “ going to war ” seemed obvious enough at fi rst E-mail: [email protected] . ity to the confl ict. Q-methodology was used to explore the blush: We have been attacked, and we plan to respond Melvin J. Dubnick is a professor of way individuals processed the war narratives put forth in kind. It was that simple — or was it? political science and director of the MPA by the Bush administration and reported in the media program at the University of New Hampshire. He is a recipient of the Mosher immediately following the September 11 attacks. Th ough Despite analogies that have been drawn to the attack Award for a coauthored article in PAR no distinct state-of-war narratives were found among the on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the decision to enter a state (1987 ) and the Burchfi eld Award for the public administrators in this study, there are clear indica- of war after September 11, 2001, was a unique event best book review published in PAR (2000 ). He has coauthored textbooks on public tions that latent narratives refl ecting local political and in American history. Although other American wars policy analysis, public administration, and organizational task environments have emerged. are associated with triggering events — the bombard- American government. ment of Fort Sumter, the sinking of the battleship E-mail: [email protected] . n past U.S. wars, a central narrative was a critical Maine, the attack on Pearl Harbor, the invasion of Dorothy Olshfski is an associate element in developing support and directing the Kuwait — none of those events occurred in a narrative professor in the Graduate Department of war eff ort. Th is has not been the case with the vacuum. In each case, the road to war had been well Public Administration at Rutgers University – I Newark. Her work has appeared in PAR present “ war on terror. ” Specifi - paved materially, politically, and and other leading journals. Her most cally, we found no evidence of a psychologically over an extended recent book, Agendas and Decisions: How central war narrative in a sample Despite analogies that have period of time. Th e shelling of State Government Executives and Middle been drawn to the attack on Managers Make and Administer Policy, of public administrators. Th e Fort Sumter by South Carolinian with Robert Cunningham, will be United States declared the war Pearl Harbor in 1941, the troops was the culmination of published by SUNY Press this year. on terror with no established or events that had unfolded over E-mail: [email protected] . decision to enter a state of emergent “ state-of-war narra- war after September 11, several months after the election tive. ” As the existence of a coher- 2001, was a unique event in of Lincoln and after many years ent war narrative has proved to of heated discussion and debate be a critical element in the con- American history. ( Agar 1966 ). Th e public clamor duct of past wars, it may be for war with Spain was already useful to evaluate the implications of this purported several years old when the battleship Maine exploded anomaly. Of special interest are the implications and sank in Havana Harbor in February 1898, but for public-service employees who, given their closeness even then, two months passed before Congress de- to the conduct of wartime activities, might be clared war ( Paterson 1996 ). Th e United States ’ entry expected to coordinate their eff orts by reference into World War I is often associated with the loss of to a common war story. American lives when the Lusitania was sank — but nearly two years and a great deal of preparation passed We begin our consideration of the absence of such a between that event and the declaration of war ( Smith story by highlighting war as a cultural phenomenon, 1956; Th ompson 1971 ). Although the attack on Pearl and then we turn our attention to the important Harbor was a military surprise, it took place amid role that narratives play in shaping the actions and debate over plans for mobilization and ongoing prepa- decisions of public administrators. We consider the rations for war that had been building for at least two 554 Public Administration Review • July | August 2006 years ( Fleming 2001; O ’ Neill 1993; Sagan 1988 ). beyond the immediate enlistment and engagement of And the extended buildup — psychologically as well as fi ghting forces. War is not merely an intermittent militarily — to the fi rst Gulf War was still fresh in our military endeavor involving the mobilization and memories as the process was repeated in 2003 strategic manipulation of troops and armaments. ( Gordon and Trainor 1995, 2006). Whether it is rooted in human nature or social calcu- lation, war soon becomes a key factor in the cultural Th e war on terror that was triggered by the events of lives and institutionalized relationships of all societies September 11 had no such gestation period. Th e state ( Malinowski 1941; Zur 1987 ). Th e exact form and fi t of war was declared by President George W. Bush and of war into the sociocultural milieu depends, of others without hesitation, but it was also done with- course, on the historical and social circumstances of out any troops or plans in place to confront this par- the society ( Clausewitz 1984 , 707 – 18), and scholars ticular enemy. Just as important, it occurred in a disagree about whether the cultural role of war is context of public indiff erence to or ignorance of the functional or pathological. threat posed by terrorists. Th ere had been discussions within the intellectual communities about possible Deleuze and Guattari (1986) , for example, observe “ blowbacks ” ( Johnson 2000 ) and a coming “ clash of that nomadic societies are organized as war machines, civilizations ” ( Huntington 1996 ). Th ere had also been not for the purpose of satisfying some genetic urge for warnings issued in a series of reports by a relatively violence or conquest but as a necessary complement obscure advisory commission chartered in 1998 by to a life of traversing potential hostile territories and Secretary of Defense William Cohen. 1 But otherwise, artifi cial borders. Students of ancient Greece have little attention was given before September 11 to noted that a state of war was a pervasive condition establishing a scenario for anything resembling a war refl ecting the vulnerability of city-states to attack from on terror. Such matters as terrorist threats remained other city-states or empires, leading Max Weber to stories of law enforcement, criminal investigations, and observe that the ancient polis can best be understood the prosecution of bombers and their co-conspirators. as a “ guild of warriors ” (1978, 1359). 3 John Kenneth Th e bombings of the World Trade Center in 1993 and Galbraith (1971) presents a persuasive argument that the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma the modern industrial state thrived for decades in City in 1995, as well as the mischief of the Una- both the United States and the Soviet Union with the bomber, were perceived as the criminal acts of fringe assistance of a Cold War culture that amounted to a fanatics who would be brought to justice through the state-of-war condition just short of actual hostility. normal channels of law and order. Until the morning of September 11, 2001, however, there was no sub- Some scholars have stressed the pathological impact of stantial story line in the popular press or from the the war culture on societies. John Keegan (1993) , for government about a war on terror. example, regards war-preoccupied cultures as destruc- tive at worst and antiprogressive at best. 4 Lewis Mum- War as a Cultural Institution ford regards war as “ negative creativity ” that ultimately Despite centuries of debate and study, the nature and off sets any real or potential gains from major techno- origin of war remain points of contention dividing logical advances (1970, 221). And as a counter to intellectual communities. Th is is true regardless of Galbraith ’ s thesis, Seymour Melman (1974) presents a whether the subject is approached from an abstract case against the benefi ts of a war culture for economic philosophical position or from the practical viewpoint well-being. 5 of military tacticians. Even the most fundamental and defi ning issues surrounding war — whether war is a Whether it is perceived as functional or pathological, product of nature or nurture — remain in dispute.