For the purposes of the study of American government, suggests Kettl (political science, U. of Pennsylvania), the 9-11 terrorist attacks and the Hurricane Katrina disaster were "stress tests" analogous to those run by a cardiologist to diagnose the health of a patient's heart. He offers his own diagnosis of the US government's homeland security health as revealed by these events, discussing intelligence failures prior to the 9-11 attacks and the government's response, broader coordination problems in the federal bureaucracy, state and local government responses to Hurricane Katrina, the policy problem of trying to maximize protection against threats that can't be eliminated, and the alleged conflict between security and civil rights and liberties. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Read Less