Jay Walker achieved fame and fortune as an internet pioneer (Priceline.com), then notoriety and considerably less fortune as an icon of the dot-com bust. But his legacy might one day be a sweeping scheme for homeland security that doesn't earn him . . .
Jay Walker achieved fame and fortune as an internet pioneer (Priceline.com), then notoriety and considerably less fortune as an icon of the dot-com bust. But his legacy might one day be a sweeping scheme for homeland security that doesn't earn him a buck. For the past few months, Walker has quietly been visiting key figures in Washington, D.C., to brief them on an idea he calls US HomeGuard. It is audacious, ingenious and a little bit scary. Basically, it attempts to protect chemical plants, reservoirs and airports--all targets where terrorists could get horrifying results with relatively little effort--by a system involving 10 million Webcams and a stay-at-home army of up to a million watchful citizens.

But scarier still is not doing something to protect ourselves against demonstrably real threats. We found this out, of course, on September 11. Walker himself saw the tragic columns of smoke as he was driving down the West Side Highway to visit a branch of his business-incubation company, Walker Digital. It was located on the 21st floor of the Woolworth Building, looking straight into the towers.

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