DIRA Case Study

Intelligence and Warning is Border and Transportation Security is responsible for protecting America's borders, territorial waters, and transportation systems by centralizing information-sharing and databases that track and monitor all aspects of border control and America's transportation systems. Domestic Counterterrorism covers a wide variety of activities, ranging from National Security Agency monitoring of telephone conversations to local police monitoring of persons of interest. Protecting Critical Infrastructure and Key Assets identifies a clear set of national goals and objectives and outlines the guiding principles that will underpin our efforts to secure the infrastructures and assets vital to our national security, governance, public health and safety, economy, and public confidence. Defending against Catastrophic Threats reduces vulnerability of the United States to terrorism. Emergency Preparedness and Response will create one emergency response plan to be used at all levels of government and will ensure that first-responders, from the federal government level down to local levels, receive proper training and equipment.

After September 11, 2001, the Department of Homeland of Security was formed in response to the terrorist attacks. Out of the birth of the agencies formed, the National Incident Management System (NIMS) was created to allow clear allocation of resources and a systematic approach to emergency management. The system can be effective in many responses where many levels of government and response are imminent to respond to the disaster. Many of these agencies are emergency management, police, fire, health, and EMS from all levels of government. NIMS can be used on any type of incident and of any size or scope in nature.

As we move into a new era were a more robust and urgent homeland security program is needed, it is important to talk about how officials are managing all of the risk. There are a multitude of threats; from terrorism, where tactics are all the more unconventional an unpredictable, to climate change, with extreme weather conditions causing severe droughts or other catastrophic storms. The risk accepted by federal officials must be weighed and prioritized in a manner that is conducive to the longevity of the nation but also eliminates political or other personal agenda. To ensure a standardized approach the Department of Homeland Security adopted a risk management. The following will look at defining what risk management is as well as an example of how it is being incorporated within the homeland security enterprise and how doing so is of benefit.

8). Therefore, although the attacks of 9/11 generated alterations in our national defense strategies, it additionally adjusted law enforcement policies immensely (Brooks, B. E., 2010, p. 113). It is now more common to have squads of police officers, such as SWAT teams, with specialized training in preventing future terrorist attacks. With exceptions to some officers at the local level, many of these specially trained teams are made up of state and national law enforcement. There are several local law enforcement agencies throughout America that do participate in anti-terrorism training, but on a larger scale many of these local departments lack the necessary training needed to prevent such threats. Therefore, local police departments, who lack special training, depend on the departments that are qualified to aid them. Likewise, the training these lower level law enforcement officers obtain varies greatly than that of state and national law enforcement. Despite the quantity of officers in local law enforcement departments, it is essential that each individual officer undergoes the preparations that are essential to be well equipped for reacting to a threat of terrorism. These preparations are crucial in that local law enforcement officers are often the first responders to these attacks, therefore they should be familiar

American Policing agencies have significantly changed since September 11, 2001, in a new age of international terrorism. American police departments agencies at all levels are now required to train for an increased amount of time and resources for possible terrorist attacks and to gathering the intelligence necessary to keep with the ongoing threats. Several police agencies have dedicating resources officers prepared for terrorist attacks and who gather information to head off possible risks. Local police often have to prevent, plan, and respond to medical, evacuations and security events which they did not have to in the past. Policing is commonly used to secure community event and increase patrols in worship places and other landmarks that

The efficient integration of Title 10 and National Guard forces during domestic operations increases the threshold of a state’s capacity to respond to disasters or security requirements. Pre-event preparation is required to achieve efficient integration. This preparation requires three critical elements, building relationships, integrated planning and exercises. To successfully incorporate federal forces during a response, states must develop positive relationships with key Title 10 partners during steady-state operations. Building upon these relationships, state and federal partners conduct deliberate planning for the integration of Title 10 forces in a state response. Finally, exercises validate plans and grow relationships. This paper describes

All these activities seem like a step in the right direction; however, according to Baggett and Collins, there isn’t any overarching architecture to support such information sharing or to create and maintain relationships with those needing the information – specifically the private sector (2010). Basically, the system should incorporate processes and procedures for ensuring the appropriate entities receive information pertinent to them at the appropriate classification levels. Likewise, Werther suggests fusion center analysts, limited in number, are responsible for sifting through a ton of information that could slow down the process (Werther, 2010). I thought Collins idea to create “sector” specialists was a good concept but I believe they should be recruited from the state, local, tribal, and private sectors DHS is trying to reach in order to bring with them knowledge of what the entity is lacking and how their operations work. As for an RFI process, this is an age old process that would, in my opinion, delay the receipt of information. Just like all these other entities, state and local Law Enforcement have a need for intelligence that should be shared and could be done with dedicated analysts and automated systems designed to help filter out unnecessary information. The system should pull from other police databases and should be fed with intelligence that could assist in solving, predicting or preventing criminal

Since the last major terrorist casualty, the Department of Homeland Security has been investing billions of dollars every year (Office of Management and Budget, 2010) in order to facilitate the access of local law enforcement agencies to elaborate the necessary standard operating plans, training skills, risk assessments, response plans, and periodically update of mutual aid agreements. While the operational priorities are set up, the administration of the aforementioned funds do not necessary respond to equality formulas of disbursement after jurisdictional size have not been a determinant for the perceived status of risk probability. The financial allocation of funds is directed towards the highest risk entities even if their jurisdiction does not surpass more crowded jurisdictions (Randol, 2012, p. 307). Evidence of cooperation from

Bellavita Christopher is the Director of Programs for the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense and Security. Also, from 1998 to 2002, he was the planning coordinator for the Utah Olympic Public Safety Command. The author focuses on the fact that homeland security faces a variety of threats. Many factors such as the economy, weapons of mass destruction and a lack of moral compass pose potential challenges to homeland security (Bellavita, 2009). The terrorist attacks such as the one in Mumbai, the economic meltdown, the disaster on the borders remain potential malefactors to the U. S. homeland. And to no surprise, the threats are gradually transforming into a more complex tactics. Bellavita takes aim towards a realistic assessment

In 1995, Kevin Jack Riley and Bruce Hoffman published their study Domestic Terrorism: A National Assessment of State and Local Preparedness to examine the issues and problems state and local law enforcement agencies faced while dealing with the threat of terrorism in the United States. More specifically, researchers sought to identify how agencies at those two different levels perceived the terrorist threat in the United States, as well as learning how those agencies manage the threat of terrorism and plan and organize their response to actual incidents (Riley & Hoffman, 1995). In order to collect the data needed, the study was broken down into three separate research phases: (1) a national survey of state and local law enforcement agencies designed to assess how those law enforcement agencies perceive the threat of terrorism in the United States and to identify potential anti- and counter-terrorism programs currently used by those jurisdictions; (2) the selection of ten locations, chosen after completion of survey, as case studies to examine in detail how different jurisdictions have adapted to the threat of terrorism and to explain further the anti- and counter-terrorism programs used by those jurisdictions; and (3) the identification of programs used by state and local law enforcement agencies to counter potential future threats along with the development of a prospective future research agenda (Riley & Hoffman, 1995).

Immediate following the 9/11 attacks, rigorous security procedures were put in place at airports, government buildings, cultural center, and many other facilities. The FBI instructed state and local law enforcement to be on their highest level of alert and be prepared to response to any acts of terrorism. This caused surveillance to be used more than ever before.

Funding of an individual’s quest for DWD may be costly. Expenses to consider include the various physician consults in addition to the prescription barbiturate itself which may cost as much as $5000 (Death with Dignity, n.d.). The Assisted Suicide Funding Restriction Act (1997) bans the use of federal funding, such as Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid, for any type of assisted suicide or euthanasia. Private insurance companies vary and may decide which doctor’s visits, prescriptions, and procedures they will cover and this varies by state. Life, health, or accident insurance policies are to be unaffected by PAS as indicated in the DWDA (1994).

The ability of the Department of Homeland Security to effectively manage risk is vital to national security. Risk in general, is something that is permanent but because this is known, strategies can be used to mitigate situations as they present themselves. Government managers must manage risk in a complex environment taking into consideration the diverse missions and multiple objectives of public agencies (Hardy, 2014). The role of risk management within the homeland security enterprise was managed by best and worst case scenario planning. This is something that is inevitable as we are faced within a definite variety of threats. One way to grade or rank threats is through worst-case analysis. As this analysis can be used for worst-case scenarios the federal government cannot leave out lower ranking situations (Roberts, 2007). Since the Department of Homeland Security is charged with managing risk within the enterprise, a basic equation is used to help figure out different variables and how they would be affected.

The long-term implications for business owners and security professionals as it relates to the Aurora Colorado theater shooting comes down to preparedness for the threat of an active shooter. The FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin list some key considerations for business owners and security professionals when addressing the problem of the active shooter. The FBI reinforces that there is no one specific demographic for an active shooter. In fact, they may display preattack behavior, that when recognized can disrupt the threat. Special Agent Katherine Schweit, who serves as a special assistant to the executive assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch, explains that “The pathway to targeted violence typically involves an unresolved real or perceived grievance and an ideation of a violent resolution that eventually moves from thought to research, planning, and preparation.” (Schweit, 2013) The FBI further explains that threat assessment needs to include

The Department of Homeland Security released the 2014 Quadrennial Homeland Security Review on June 18, 2014 as required by the Homeland Security Act of 2002 and its amendments. This review outlined the current state of preparedness, as well as the future areas of concentration. It also determined six strategic challenges facing the nation: terrorist threat; growing cyber threats; biological concerns as a whole; nuclear terrorism; transnational criminal organizations; and natural hazards. The basic building block of emergency management in the U.S. is the local community. Each step begins here. Threat assessments are completed on the local level. Planning, mitigation, and response are all responsibilities of the local community to support the state and Federal practice using the guidance provided by both.