While the government shutdown continues, core national security missions are still operating. Counterterrorism and counterintelligence cases continue to be processed. Border security, airport screening, the Coast Guard and other front-line Homeland Security units remain on duty.

But the structure beneath that surface is deteriorating. The support systems that keep these missions resilient are thinning, and the risk of an avoidable failure is rising.

Aviation is the clearest warning sign.

Air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration screeners are working without pay and in short-staffed facilities. The result is growing sick calls, widespread delays, mounting overtime and growing fatigue. Fatigue is a well-known amplifier of safety risk.

This is not a hypothetical

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