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In this article, I elaborate on the thesis that counterinsurgency has become a ‘new governing paradigm’ in the United States. I first argue that the DoD redefinition of terrorism blurred the conceptual boundaries between counterterrorism and counterinsurgency, to ease the latter’s transition from the field of military strategy to that of political governance. Second, I argue that counterinsurgency became a governing paradigm, based on political techniques that worked through the subjective capabilities of the population. After 9/11, those capabilities were associated with the first responder. I trace the conceptual evolution of the first responder as a technical category in the discourse and administration of public safety, to its re-emergence in the concept of homeland security after 9/11. I argue that the political architecture created by homeland security emphasized the awareness, preparedness and resilience of the first responder who was in turn defined as the first line of defense against potential attacks. Through the first responder, counterinsurgency achieves its fundamental goal: to prevent social transformation by securing societal ‘normalcy’. Lastly, I argue that, as a governing paradigm, counterinsurgency provides a frame of interpretation to understand and categorize social experience: a first responders/insurgents schism now guides how we interpret political divisions.

Normalizing counterinsurgency in the United States: first responders as the first line of defense