ABSTRACT
Capital cities play an important role in the formation and consolidation of the cultural, social and political identity of a nation. This chapter examines the economic geography of federal procurement for homeland security products and services. It argues that homeland security procurement acts as a powerful economic development force and its spatial distribution mirrors the geography of defence contracting. Homeland security contracting is disproportionately concentrated in states that make up the gun belt, which stretches down the East Coast and along the South and the West of the United States. Furthermore, the data shows that the Washington DC capital region captured more than half of all procurement contracts and has become the most important location in the gun belt and can thus be considered the knowledge hub of this industry. Examination of industry activity in the homeland security sectors shows that the tertiarization of the defence and homeland security industry facilitates strong agglomeration economies in the Washington DC region.
