Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

War Rhetoric and Disaster Transparency

  • Chapter
Risk Analysis of Natural Hazards

Part of the book series: Risk, Governance and Society ((RISKGOSO,volume 19))

Abstract

In recent years, war and national security rhetoric has come to permeate the legal and policy conversations on a wide variety of natural and technological disasters. This melding of disaster and war to justify exceptions to ordinary constitutional and democratic norms is particularly apparent in governmental restrictions on the flow of its communications in disasters, as limitations on information flow that might be warranted when there are thinking enemies (such as in times of war) are invoked in disaster scenarios lacking such thinking enemies. The extension of wartime transparency exceptionalism into nonthinking-enemy disasters—reflected in both legislation and official rhetoric—is deeply troubling: it risks the illegitimate construction of enemies by government and the unwarranted transformation of public spaces into war zones from which the public can be more easily excluded. Only by consciously disaggregating dissimilar forms of emergencies and removing the rhetoric of war from disaster decision-making can the government make appropriate determinations about the provision of information in times of community or national crisis.

A longer version of this chapter first appeared in the UCLA Law Review. See Lisa Grow Sun and RonNell Andersen Jones, Disaggregating Disasters, 60 U.C.L.A. L. Rev. 884 (2013). Greater detail on the statutory schemes and governmental actions discussed in this chapter can be found in that article.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • (1931) Near v. Minnesota ex rel. Olson. United States Reports 283: 697–737

    Google Scholar 

  • (1980) Halperin v. CIA, Federal Reporter (2d) 629: 144–162

    Google Scholar 

  • (1980) Snepp v. United States. United States Reports 444: 507–526

    Google Scholar 

  • (2005) Bush pushes for military to quarantine avian flu breakout. In: FoxNews.com. Available via http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,171230,00.html. Accessed 26 Aug 2014

  • (2005) Troops told “Shoot to Kill” in New Orleans, 2 Sept 2005. In: ABC News Online. Available via http://www.abc.net.au/news/2005-09-02/troops-told-shoot-to-kill-in-new-orleans/2094678. Accessed 26 Aug 2014

  • 42 U.S.C. §§ 5170, 5170a (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  • 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(7)(A), (E)–(F)

    Google Scholar 

  • 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(1)(A)–(B) (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  • Ackerman B (2004) This is not war. Yale Law J 113:1871–1907

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ackerman B (2006) Before the next attack: preserving civil liberties in an age of terrorism. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT

    Google Scholar 

  • Annas G (2010) Worst case bioethics: death, disaster, and public health. Oxford University Press, New York, NY

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Barry J (2004) The great influenza: the epic story of the deadliest plague in history. Viking, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Barry E et al (2005) New Orleans slides into chaos. The Los Angeles Times, 2 Sept 2005, A1

    Google Scholar 

  • Brandeis L (1914) Other people’s money and how the bankers use it. F. A. Stokes, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Bratspies R (2009) Regulatory trust. Arizona Law Rev 51:575–631

    Google Scholar 

  • Carter B, Barringer F (2001) In patriotic time, dissent is muted: debate grows over balancing security and free speech. N Y Times, 28 Sept 2001, A1

    Google Scholar 

  • Cecchine G, Moore M (2006) Infectious disease and national security: strategic information needs. National Defense Research Institute, Santa Monica, CA

    Google Scholar 

  • Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2002) Crisis and emergency risk communication

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark L, Chess C (2008) Elites and panic: more to fear than fear itself. Soc Forces 87:993–1014

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Emerson T (1976) Legal foundations of the right to know. Wash Univ Law Q 1976:1–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Farber D et al (2010) Disaster law and policy, 2nd edn. Aspen, Frederick, MD

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Fenster M (2006) The opacity of transparency. Iowa Law Rev 91:885–949

    Google Scholar 

  • Fischer H III (2008) Response to disaster: fact versus fiction and its perpetuation: the sociology of disaster, 3rd edn. University Press of America, Lanham, MD

    Google Scholar 

  • Fuchs M (2006) Judging secrets: the role courts should play in preventing unnecessary secrecy. Adm Law Rev 58:131–176

    Google Scholar 

  • Gerwin L (2011) Planning for pandemic: a new model for governing public health emergencies. Am J Law Med 38:128–157

    Google Scholar 

  • Gowder P (2006) Secrecy as mystification of power: meaning and ethics in the security state. I/S J Law Policy 2:1–25

    Google Scholar 

  • Gross O (2003) Chaos and rules: should responses to violent crises always be constitutional? Yale Law J 112:1011–1134

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hommerich C (2012) Trust and subjective well-being after the Great East Japan earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown: preliminary results. Int J Jpn Sociol 21:46–64

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ingalsbee T (2006) The war on wildfire: firefighting and the militarization of forest fire management. In: Wuerthner G (ed) The wildfire reader: a century of failed forest policy. Island Press, Washington, DC, pp 262–285

    Google Scholar 

  • Ingalsbee T (2013) The war on wildfire: firefighting and the militarization of the forestry. In: Fire-Ecology.org, 11 March 2013. Available via http://www.fire-ecology.org/research/war_on_wildfire.htm. Accessed 26 Aug 2014

  • Kitrosser H (2010) Symposium: it came from beneath the twilight zone: wiretapping and article II imperialism. Texas Law Rev 88:1401–1434

    Google Scholar 

  • Kurtz H (2005) Standing in the way of a good story. In: The Washington Post, 9 Sept 2005. Available via http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/08/AR2005090802121.html. Accessed 26 Aug 2014

  • Lasker R, New York Academy of Medicine (2004) Redefining readiness: terrorism planning through the eyes of the public. http://www.vchca.org/docs/public-health/terrorism_planning_eyes_of_public.pdf?sfvrsn=0

  • Lauta K (2012) Exceptions and norms: the law of natural disasters. Dissertation

    Google Scholar 

  • Mongoven A (2006) The war on disease and the war on terror: a dangerous metaphorical nexus. Camb Q Healthc Ethics 15:403–416

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nat’l Press Photographers Association (2010) Coast guard lifts boom ban; announces New Media Procedures, 13 July 2010. Available via https://nppa.org/news/875. Accessed 26 Aug 2014

  • National Research Council (2012) Dam and Levee safety and community resilience: a vision for future practice. National Academies Press, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Obama B (2010a) Remarks honoring the 2010 Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints, 9 Aug 2010

    Google Scholar 

  • Obama B (2010b) Address to the nation on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, 15 June 2010

    Google Scholar 

  • Obama B (2010c) Remarks at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Pensacola, Florida, 15 June 2010

    Google Scholar 

  • Onishi N, Fackler M (2011) Japan held nuclear data, leaving evacuees in Peril. N Y Times, 9 Aug 2011, A1

    Google Scholar 

  • Osnos E (2011) The fallout. In: New Yorker, 17 Oct 2011. Available via http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/10/17/the-fallout. Accessed 26 Aug 2014

  • Peled R, Rabin Y (2011) The constitutional right to information. Columbia Hum Rights Law Rev 42:357–401

    Google Scholar 

  • Peters J (2010) Efforts to limit the flow of spill news. N Y Times, 30 June 2010, A20

    Google Scholar 

  • Picou J et al (2004) Disaster, litigation, and the corrosive community. Soc Forces 82:1493–1522

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Podesta J (2003) Need to know: governing in secret. In: Leone R, Anrig G (eds) The war on our freedoms: civil liberties in an age of terrorism. Public Affairs, New York, pp 220–237

    Google Scholar 

  • Posner R (2006) Not a suicide pact: the constitution in a time of national emergency. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Posner E, Vermuele A (2005) Accomodating emergencies. In: Tushnet M (ed) The constitution in wartime: beyond alarmism and complacency. Duke University Press, Durham, NC, pp 55–95

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Posner E, Vermuele A (2010) The executive unbound: after the Madisonian Republic. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Pozen D (2010) Deep secrecy. Stanford Law Rev 62:257–340

    Google Scholar 

  • Quarantelli E (2001) Panic, sociology of. In: Smelser N, Baltes P (eds) International encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences. Pergamon, New York, pp 11010–11023

    Google Scholar 

  • Quarantelli E, Dynes R (1972) When disaster strikes (it isn’t much like what you’ve heard and read about). Psychol Today 5:66–70

    Google Scholar 

  • S. REP. NO. 109-322, at 515 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  • Safina C (2011) A sea in flames: the deepwater horizon oil blowout. Crown, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Samaha A (2006) Government secrets, constitutional law, and platforms for judicial intervention. UCLA Law Rev 53:909–976

    Google Scholar 

  • Scanlon J (2007) Unwelcome irritant or useful ally? The mass media in emergencies. In: RodrĂ­guez H et al (eds) Handbook of disaster research. Springer, New York, pp 413–430

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Schmitt C (1932) The concept of the political (trans: George Schwab). University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL

    Google Scholar 

  • Sontag S (2002) Real battles and empty metaphors. N Y Times, 10 Sept 2002, A25

    Google Scholar 

  • Sorensen J, Mileti D (1987) Decision-making uncertainties in emergency warning system organizations. Int J Mass Emerg Disasters 5:33–61

    Google Scholar 

  • Stone G (2004) Perilous times: free speech in wartime. W. W. Norton, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Sun L (2011) Disaster mythology and the law. Cornell Law Rev 96:1131–1208

    Google Scholar 

  • Sun L, Jones R (2013) Disaggregating disasters. UCLA Law Rev 60:884–948

    Google Scholar 

  • The Working Group on “Governance Dilemmas” in Bioterrorism Response (2004) Leading during bioattacks and epidemics with the public’s trust and help. Biosecur Bioterror 2:25–40

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tierney K, Bevc C (2007) Disaster as war: militarism and the social construction of disaster in New Orleans. In: Brunsma D et al (eds) The sociology of Katrina: perspectives on a modern catastrophe. Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, MD, pp 35–51

    Google Scholar 

  • Tierney K et al (2006) Metaphors matter: disaster myths, media frames, and their consequences in Hurricane Katrina. Ann Am Acad Polit Soc Sci 604:57–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tushnet M (2005) Emergencies and the idea of constitutionalism. In: Tushnet M (ed) The constitution in wartime: beyond alarmism and complacency. Duke University Press, Durham, NC, pp 39–54

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Tyson A (2005) Troops back from Iraq find another war zone; In New Orleans, “It’s Like Baghdad on a Bad Day.” The Washington Post, 6 Sept 2005, A10

    Google Scholar 

  • U.S. Government (2010) Coast guard establishes 20-meter safety zone around all deepwater horizon protective boom; operations, 10 June 2010. Available via http://www.restorethegulf.gov/release/2010/06/30/coast-guard-establishes-20-meter-safety-zone-around-all-deepwater-horizon-protect. Accessed 26 Aug 2014

  • Williams B (2005) Daily nightly: predicting disaster. In: MSNBC.Com, 7 Sept 2005, 4:30 PM. Available via http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9216831. Accessed 26 Aug 2014

  • Yassin J (2005) Demonizing the victims of Katrina. In: Extra, November-December. Available via http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2793. Accessed 26 Aug 2014

  • Zolla W II (2003) The war at home: rising tensions between our civil liberties and our national security. CBA Rec 17(2003):32

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Law School, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA

    Lisa Grow Sun & RonNell Andersen Jones

Authors
  1. Lisa Grow Sun
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. RonNell Andersen Jones
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lisa Grow Sun .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA

    Paolo Gardoni

  2. College of Law, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois, USA

    Colleen Murphy

  3. College of Law, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois, USA

    Arden Rowell

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Sun, L.G., Jones, R.A. (2016). War Rhetoric and Disaster Transparency. In: Gardoni, P., Murphy, C., Rowell, A. (eds) Risk Analysis of Natural Hazards. Risk, Governance and Society, vol 19. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22126-7_12

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation