ABSTRACT
This chapter enquires how the commonly assumed erosion of the conceptual boundaries between inside and outside, civil and military, peace and war, normal and exceptional is discernible in the speeches advocating the major recent institutional change undertaken in order to secure the US homeland, namely the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. It looks at one defining moment in the history of critical infrastructure protection (CIP), understood broadly as a central part of 'homeland security'. The chapter helps reader to understand how CIP is situated in the wider discourse of homeland security and how '9/11 ' as a defining moment has shaped the direction of CIP. It discusses whether the changing logic of security transforms its gendered underpinnings to become less virulent. The chapter attempts to establish whether and how these narratives draw on gendered tropes, and whether and how they rely on, refer to, and thereby instantiate stereotypical conceptions of gender and power.
