Homeland Security Name an Issue

W A S H I N G T O N, Sept. 5 — The name of the Department of Homeland Security is meant to evoke images of safety even family, hearth, comfort. It gives some people a knot in the stomach.

An uncommon word to begin with, "homeland" became an everyday word after the Sept. 11 attacks and was institutionalized when President Bush created the Office of Homeland Security.

Jeff Neberman, who teaches European history at Boise State University, says it's "right out of Nazi Germany." The German word "heimat" means "homeland" and was used by the Nazis. Others dispute a direct Nazi link and note various cultures have used the word, too.

"Homeland" has "obviously grated on quite a number of people," said Todd Gitlin, who teaches culture and sociology at Columbia University. "It feels like an import even if you're not aware that its origins are German."

Leslie Savan, who wrote a book about advertising and popular culture, said "homeland" makes her think not only of Germany, but also of Russia and South Africa's former apartheid government.

"It's been one of those words that's supposed to sound cozy and warm," she said. "But because it sounds cozy and warm it has been used by totalitarian governments."

Bush wants Congress to turn the homeland security office into a full-fledged Cabinet agency called the Department of Homeland Security, a matter the Senate took up this week. The House has passed its version of Bush's plan to merge all or parts of 22 agencies into a 170,000-employee department focused on preventing terrorism.