The Duck of Minerva

Scenes from Security Theater at Dulles Airport

by Dan Nexon

10 August 2011, 1710 EDT

Dulles Airport, just before noon. My daughter and I have dropped off my father in-law. We’re sitting in our compact car, waiting for one of the vehicles blocking us to move on. After six minutes, I notice that the engine of the Acura SUV sitting to my left is off. 

Me: Hmmm. I don’t think there’s anyone in the car.
Daughter: What do you mean?
Me: We can’t leave because of that Acura… but I don’t think there’s anyone in it.

I wait another minute or so. I Attempt to pivot the car away from the curb and on to freedom, but fail. I get out of the car, and walk up to the SUV. There is, indeed, no one in it. I spot a security officer sitting by the luggage-cart dispenser. I walk over to him.


Me: Sir, I there’s an unattended vehicle over there.
Security Officer: No there isn’t.
Me: But it’s been sitting there for at least five minutes, and its totally empty.
Security Officer: He got out and got in line. He’s allowed to do that.

I glance at the nearest “no parking/no standing/unattended vehicles will be towed.”


Me: Okay. What line is he in?
Security Officer: The United line.
Me: Inside?
Security Officer: […]
Me: Well, it’s been a while, and I just thought you might want to know.
Security Officer: If he doesn’t come outside in a bit, I’ll look into it.

A limo leaves, creating space for me to pull out as well. I walk back to my car and drive away.

‘Tis a pattern.

Daniel H. Nexon is a Professor at Georgetown University, with a joint appointment in the Department of Government and the School of Foreign Service. His academic work focuses on international-relations theory, power politics, empires and hegemony, and international order. He has also written on the relationship between popular culture and world politics.

He has held fellowships at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation and at the Ohio State University's Mershon Center for International Studies. During 2009-2010 he worked in the U.S. Department of Defense as a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow. He was the lead editor of International Studies Quarterly from 2014-2018.

He is the author of The Struggle for Power in Early Modern Europe: Religious Conflict, Dynastic Empires, and International Change (Princeton University Press, 2009), which won the International Security Studies Section (ISSS) Best Book Award for 2010, and co-author of Exit from Hegemony: The Unraveling of the American Global Order (Oxford University Press, 2020). His articles have appeared in a lot of places. He is the founder of the The Duck of Minerva, and also blogs at Lawyers, Guns and Money.

Daniel H. Nexon is a Professor at Georgetown University, with a joint appointment in the Department of Government and the School of Foreign Service. His academic work focuses on international-relations theory, power politics, empires and hegemony, and international order. He has also written on the relationship between popular culture and world politics.

He has held fellowships at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation and at the Ohio State University's Mershon Center for International Studies. During 2009-2010 he worked in the U.S. Department of Defense as a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow. He was the lead editor of International Studies Quarterly from 2014-2018.

He is the author of The Struggle for Power in Early Modern Europe: Religious Conflict, Dynastic Empires, and International Change (Princeton University Press, 2009), which won the International Security Studies Section (ISSS) Best Book Award for 2010, and co-author of Exit from Hegemony: The Unraveling of the American Global Order (Oxford University Press, 2020). His articles have appeared in a lot of places. He is the founder of the The Duck of Minerva, and also blogs at Lawyers, Guns and Money.

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