Okay, the official name of the legislation is not really the Paranoia PR Act of 2009, but that’s the effect of the legislation. The actual name of the law is the National Bombing Prevention Act, introduced by U.S. Representative Peter King and approved by a voice vote this afternoon. The official bill number is H.R. 549.

There are some worthwhile things that this legislation would do, although they’re not of the highest priority. It would establish an Office for Bombing Prevention within the Protective Security Coordination Division of the Office of Infrastructure Protection in the Department of Homeland Security. Think of it as a shelf on a cupboard in a closet in an office.

The Office for Bombing Prevention would assist in coordination of information, resources and tactics in dealing with bomb attacks by terrorists. Of course, such coordination already exists, just not with the specific focus on bombing attacks. Is this level of specificity really required, when terrorist bombings are extremely rare events in the United States? What’s next, the subdivision of this new office into separate task forces to coordinate preparation for big bombs, little bombs and medium-sized bombs?

Given that bombings almost never happen in the USA, the main work of the Office for Bombing Prevention seems to be convince Americans that, although they’ve never had a bombing in their community, such an attack could happen at any time. This duty is spelled out explicitly in the legislation, which orders the OBP to execute “national public awareness and vigilance campaigns relating to terrorist explosive threats, preventing explosive attacks, and activities and measures underway to safeguard the United States”. The OBP is further required to send out frightening messages about the supposed threat of terrorists with bombs to specific groups, including people with mental disabilities, the poor, the elderly and children.

A bit of preparation behind the scenes in case of an unlikely disaster is appropriate, but the National Bombing Prevention Act goes too far. We don’t need campaigns designed to inform people with mental disabilities about how they can prepare just in case a terrorist with a bomb enters their community. We don’t need to spend money to convince our children that they need to get ready for when the bombers come to get them.

If it is to be the responsibility of the Department of Homeland Security to get ready in case of unlikely terrorist bombing campaigns, well, let them get ready – and leave the rest of us alone in the meantime.