Biological Threats To Homeland Security

The components of DHS are Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Border Patrol, Transportation Security Administration, and the U.S. Customs Service and the last federal agency the Secret Service (Oliver, W. M., Marion, N. E., & Hill, J. B. 2015). These components will help secure the protection of the people of the United States from terrorist attacks and any other disasters such as the preparation for a nuclear attack that possible deals with chemical, radiologist, and biologist or any other man-made material. The Department of Homeland goal is to also focus more on how to help the people to prepare for emergency preparedness and how to properly response if any act occurs and to also know how to properly recover

The vision of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is “to ensure a homeland that is safe, secure, and resilient against terrorism and other hazards” (United States Department of Homeland Security, 2015). To achieve this vision, DHS has developed five core missions these are, “to prevent terrorism and enhance security, to secure and manage US borders, to ensure and administer immigration laws, to safeguard and secure cyberspace, and to ensure resilience to disasters.”

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security was formed more than a decade ago with a very significant mission of safeguarding America's homeland from hazards, threats, and national disasters. This department conducts its mission through securing the country's borders, preventing terror attacks, and responding to incidents or threats to its citizens (Miller, n.d.). Generally, the most important roles of the Department of Homeland Security are to lead a concerted national effort in securing the United States and preserving the American way of life. The department was established in 2002 in reaction to the 9/11 terror attacks and has since developed a nationwide strategic plan for evaluating and updating its mission statement and effectiveness of operations. These plans can be updated and transformed to accomplish the needs of the Department for Homeland Security and the American people.

In the detection department, the Office will identify priorities and coordinate efforts for collection and analysis of information within the United States regarding threats of terrorism, and activities of terrorists within the country. It will also identify priorities for the gathering of intelligence outside the U.S. in regards to threats of terrorism within the nation. The Office will work with federal, state, and local agencies to make possible collection from state and local governments and private bodies of information related to terrorist threats or activities in the U.S. It will coordinate efforts to ensure that all executive departments and agencies that have intelligence collection responsibilities have enough technological capabilities and resources to continue to collect intelligence and data relating to terrorist activities or possible terrorist acts in the States. Also, it will manage development of monitoring protocols and equipment for detecting the release of biological, chemical, and radiological hazards. Not only that, the office will ensure that

After the terror attacks against New York City took place, the Bush administration created the Homeland Security Act of 2002 and with it the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2006). According to the DHS the U.S. Commission on National Security in the 21st Century defines homeland security as, “the protection of the territory, critical infrastructures, and citizens of the United States by Federal, State, and local government entities from the threat or use of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, cyber, or conventional weapons by military or other means.” (2006, pg. 24). The five current primary missions of the DHS are preventing terrorism, securing borders, enforcing and administering immigration laws, securing cyberspace, and

To keep our great nation safe requires the combined effort of a multitude of agencies and groups nationwide. The US homeland is the physical region that includes the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, US territories, and surrounding 500 nautical miles of territorial waters and airspace (Joint Chiefs of Staff, 2013). The keep the countries boarders secure and over 324 million Americans safe is a massive task and this broad stroke program involves federal government including the military, federal, state, local, tribal areas and the private sector along with other governments with shared interests. According to The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) there are three key concepts that are the foundation of America’s homeland security strategy.

A bioterrorism attack is the deliberate release of viruses, bacteria, or other germs (agents) used to cause illness or death in people, animals, or plants. Bioterrorism agents can be separated into three categories, depending on how easily they can be spread and the severity of illness or death they cause. Category A agents are considered the highest risk and Category C agents are those that are considered emerging threats for disease. Bioterrorism is an issue and has been an issue for many years. This being the case every citizen and health care professional needs to be prepared for an attack. However most people are not fully prepared for a bioterrorism attack to occur. For one citizens are not educated on illnesses that could be used and they are now choosing not use countermeasures like vaccinations against the agents that would be used for a bioterrorism attack. The next issue we run into is that health care workers are not fully trained on what to do if a

In order to ensure a safe and secure homeland, both the DHS and the DoD must prevent attacks against the homeland, the DHS through mostly internal efforts, and the DoD through mostly external efforts. Additionally, should a devastating emergency incident occur in the US, both homeland security and defense entities will combine efforts to provide adequate response. First, the DHS would use FEMA to help ensure unity of effort and resourcing and the DoD would employ the National Guard, whether that be through state control or federal control would depend on the extremity of the situation. Should a terrorist attack take place in the homeland, both DHS entities and DoD entities would combine to provide security response, much like when the terror attacks occurred on September 11, 2001, where the federal government employed the National Guard under state control but federal funding to help secure US aerial ports (Goss, 2006, p 8-10). These are but a few of the examples of the ways in which both homeland security and defense efforts would share

Bioterrorism is directly focused on the livestock and crops, which are valuable sources of food. The agroterrorism attack in the U.S. has started an economic warfare, which can turn fatal to most Americans. Economic warfare has calculated of being damaging to the

Though the terrorist attacks of 9/11 shook the United States from some of its complacency, 11 years later, our public health system and the public/private health departments of the United States are still incapable of coping with a major bioterrorist attack. Our health care system was not designed to deal with bioterrorism, our medical personnel are not trained or experienced enough to deal with bioterrorism and we have not devoted enough political muscle and money to redesigning, re-educating and restructuring so the health departments can effectively deal with this very real menace. The solution is the devotion of all those assets to a new, empowered, well-funded, coordinated health departments comprising a highly effective public health system.

“The DHS has the following missions; to prevent terrorism and enhance security, secure and manage our borders, enforce and administer our immigration laws, safeguard and secure cyberspace, and ensure resilience to disasters (Homeland Security).” The Department of Homeland Security seeks to ensure the safety of all U.S. citizens and as such puts forth considerable effort to prevent or counteract any acts or potential acts of terrorism. The DHS has many different groups and agencies that each focus on different types of terrorism and any other potential threats to the nation. The many agencies under the DHS survey different parts of the world, certain interest groups, and any unusual activities taking place inside and outside the national borders. If any evidence of possible terrorist activity is detected immediate action is taken to end the activity or to keep the activity to a minimum until it can

Bioterrorism is not a distant threat that may concern us twenty years from now.  It has occurred throughout history and continues to this day.  As recently as 1996, a man from Ohio with connections to an extremist group was able to obtain Bubonic Plague cultures through the US Postal Service (Danzig & Berkowsky, 1997).  In the last month, several people within the United States have become infected with anthrax.  As we stand right now, America is unprepared for a large-scale attack with biological weapons, and as we continue with our "War on Terrorism," the likelihood of such an attack is increasing every day.  Terrorists can use three major methods to most effectively distribute a biological agent in the US: 1) air dispersal to

As the last great superpower, the United States has reason to fear escalating terroristic attacks. This is not to say that the rest of the world is not also at risk, it simply means that the United States of America is often demonized as an international bully and as such is the target of animosity from many cultures and terrorist cells, both organized and unorganized. September 11, 2001, made it abundantly clear that the weapons of choice are no longer conventional means of warfare, particularly among terrorists. Rather, terrorists are employing weapons which are readily attainable, and cause as much mayhem and destruction as possible while inciting crippling fear in the target group. For this reason, several reputable sources insist that terrorists will strike a target with either chemical or biological weapons, if they have not already done so (Gannon, J., 2000, p. 2). Interestingly, both types of weapons are readily accessible and cause mayhem and death. From a terrorist standpoint, they both have their pros and cons. However, for many reasons, including the insidiousness of the agents and the expense to appropriate them, it is most likely that the next weapons of mass destruction utilized by terrorists will be biological weapons.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) identifies bioterrorism as “the intentional use of microorganisms or toxins derived from living organisms to produce death or disease in humans, animal, and plants”. Bioterrorism is known as biological warfare. This particular kind of warfare is unique for specific use of microorganisms. This includes attacks from viruses and dangerous bacteria to cause fatality or sickness to people, animals, or plants. According the Human Diseases and Conditions Forum, “when organisms are used in this way, they become weapons”. The agents are usually discovered within nature. They can however be

There has only been one case of biological terrorism in the U.S., which has been exceedingly expensive and extensive to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, “and arguably the toughest case in FBI history, the assembled reporters told” (Shachtman). There is no way of knowing when chemical or biological terrorism will be, but it will most likely make it accessible to terrorists everywhere when someone somehow creates the “weapon of mass disruption” and gets other terrorists wanting it for their own use. Chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear terrorism should have restrictions put on the many, many amounts of chemicals or biological bacterium that can be made at home, or bought in from industrial material makers in mass production of matter already potent enough to be fatal to many individuals at once, and available in large quantities for a standard price for the potential capabilities of death it