Homeland Security Must Not Cripple U.S. Economy, Johnson Says

new study by Kenan-Flagler management professor James H. Johnson Jr. poses the question: How can we enhance homeland security without seriously compromising our ability to compete?

Free-flowing goods, capital and labor, which lie at the heart of U.S. competitiveness in the international marketplace, exist in a counterproductive tension with the heightened emphasis on security that arose in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, said Johnson, director of the Kenan Institute's Urban Investment Strategies Center.

In an article in an upcoming issue of the North Carolina Journal of International Law and Commercial Regulation, Johnson explains the best ways to buttress homeland security while maintaining an ability to compete.

Increased emphasis on border security along the borders with Canada and Mexico won't work well, he said. Johnson recommends strengthening staff and training for people at U.S. embassies and consulates who screen would-be visitors. Those deemed eligible to enter the country should be required to have an ID card with a biometric marker, so that their movements can be tracked relatively easily. Biometric markers such as those recording people's irises, retinas or fingerprints could substantially reduce the use of false passports, he said.

"In the past, we've spent millions and millions of dollars trying to tighten up the U.S.-Mexican border, and the latest data we have is that 9.8 million illegal immigrants are here now," Johnson said. "Instead, I argue for a perimeter strategy, a system that focuses on building a system of security for the North American continent."

Johnson recommends that all adult citizens and residents be required to carry national ID cards with biometric markers.

Biometric markers such as those recording people's irises, retinas or fingerprints could substantially reduce the use of false passports.

"I think it is the only way we're going to get around issues of racial profiling and violations of civil liberties," he said.

In addition, Johnson said that so-called enforcement actions involving sweeps of workplaces employing undocumented workers are counterproductive economically.

"Most of the people targeted are from Mexico and do not pose a threat to national security. They play a key role in just about every sector of our economy," he said. "It makes much more sense to provide another amnesty program, especially for Hispanics."