Architectural Push-Overs?

This question is related to the previous post and in response to Mike Davis’ Ecology of Fear. In it he describes the extent to which (in Los Angeles specifically) security consultants such as the police department have taken an increasing role in the design of our urban environment. This type of activity is also best seen in the suffocating revisions to the Freedom Tower in New York as mandated by the NYPD. My question is to what end? Is it not the architect’s role to have an understanding of all elements which contribute to the design and creation of the built world around us?