Department Of Homeland Security Case Study

This qualitative research study explored poor leadership styles of the U.S. Border Patrol a department within the Department of Homeland Security. In this chapter I will discuss my research methodology.

The deconstruction of the Twin Towers became one of the most compelling aspects of the falling of the buildings and ultimately the death toll on 9/11. The resources available now have demonstrated how, the building systems impacted the falling of the Twin Towers. In addition, it also shows how deconstruction also had a direct impact on the death toll. For the most part, the building systems were not properly tested. If they had been properly tested, it could have decreased the overall death toll on 9/11.

The question that has been asked; given the amount of money spent on homeland security programs and practices, how should the United States measure the effectiveness of this spending? This question has been answered time and time again by the different agencies that fall underneath the department of Homeland Security. Since the creation of this department, in the shadow of the 9-11 attacks by the Al Qaida terrorist group in the United States, The Department of Homeland Security has stopped numerous attacks from occurring, seized countless amounts of contraband (drugs, weapons, forged currency, illegal good and persons) from violating the sovereignty of the United States and therefore protecting the people of this nation and the national

Homeland security can be seen as a loosely based term as it is still a relatively new area of the United States strategy. Since its creation, post September 11, 2001, there has been a plethora of additions and revisions. The homeland mission lies not only within a specific agency, but demands collected participation from U.S. agencies and foreign entities to remain strong, efficient and innovative. One can examine homeland security as having the responsibility of maintaining and protecting the United States by keeping focus within the U.S. while homeland defense is responsible for maintaining the U.S. by keeping focus outside the U.S. Homeland security and homeland defense are different, but both can assist each other in certain aspects. The following paragraphs will compose of accurate definitions regarding homeland security, homeland defense and in end will discuss an in depth summary of the critical infrastructure program. These mentioned areas each have a requirement to be treated as specific in nature in order to not sacrifice their specific definition.

America made a multibillion dollar investment when the Federal Highway Act of 1956 was signed into law by Dwight Eisenhower. This was a milestone for America, connecting the nation like it had never been before. Since this time, however, the United States has done very little in terms of infrastructure investment. Currently, the American Society of Civil Engineers ranks America’s infrastructure as a D + (2013). American no longer leads the world in the best roads, airports, rail, or bridges. This is a serious problem that will lead to security, environmental, economic, and political issues if not addressed fully and swiftly. America needs to act promptly to revive the nation’s infrastructure system before additional nations surpass the US while the cost becomes too big to bear.

A security specialist in homeland security is in charge of creating, executing and monitoring emergency response and preparedness programs. They must immediately respond to and mitigate the disastrous threats of natural disasters, such as tornados and earthquakes, and man-made disasters, such as terrorist attacks and infrastructure malfunctions. Although most work for federal or state agencies, some are consultants employed by private security corporations.

Currently, there are many challenges for the homeland security enterprise. So, what does challenge mean? Challenge is an objection or query as to the truth of something, often with an implicit demand for proof. Within the homeland security world, both parts of that definition are extremely important. This is because not only do you chase down the truth of something, but you hunt down the terrorist (query) responsible for the need of homeland security. America faces several current challenges when fighting terrorism today, mainly because terrorism can come in so many ways. You have lone wolf, domestic, foreign, cyber-attacks, mass casualty. The challenging part isn’t putting boots on the ground to prevent attacks, the number

Within the United States Department of Transportation exists an agency called the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) which was created on October 15, 1966. The FHWA supports State and local governments in design, construction, and maintenance of the Nation’s highway system. The Administration’s mainly responsible for making sure that the highways and roads continue to be among the safest and most technologically available in the world. The FHWA core highway topics are: environmental, federal and Indian lands, highway funding, international, research and technologies, roads and bridges, road users, safety, and road operations and congestion. In order for the FHWA to cover all those topics mentioned earlier the administration has many offices one of which is the Office of Operations.

The United States needs a top class infrastructure system. We need a transportation system by land, water, and air that will move people and goods in an organized way and at an affordable cost. However, our infrastructure

While the preparedness/planning, response, and recovery for the transportation systems excelled, mitigation seems nonexistent. These three phases shined by completing the freeway rebuild in 84 days, almost half the time expected (pg. 59). Authorities and contractors worked fast and as a team to rectify the highway infrastructure; using knowledge gained

I do not believe the United States is in a better position since the passage of the Homeland Security Bill for a catastrophic event. The attacks that occurred on 9/11 involved the hijacking of jumbo jet aircrafts and using them to cause a catastrophic event. Under the Homeland Security Bill, this directly led to the creation of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) (Cordner, 2016). Recently, in 2015 the TSA failed miserably when tested to find weapons and explosives at an abysmal rate of 96% of the time (Sasse, 2015). The FBI has publicly stated that there are potential ISIS recruits in all 50 states (Sasse, 2015). The NSA was dialed back from what data they could collect in a fight over constitutional rights versus homeland security (Sasse, 2015).

I wanted to give you a quick briefing of the involvement in which the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has with private enterprises and their involvement in prevention, response, and recovery. The Private Sector Office (PSO) is the primary advisor to the Secretary on the impact of the Department’s policies, regulations, processes, and actions with the private sector, Assistant Secretary Douglas A. Smith and the Private Sector Office work constantly to create strategic communications with the private sector to enhance the homeland security enterprise (Live Chat Five 2015). The private enterprise of Homeland Security engages in the protection of critical infrastructure and key resources (CIKR). The Department of Homeland Security also uses state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) governments, private enterprises and individuals in the following mission areas which are prevention, response, and recovery.

September 11th, once again, changed the face of how we utilize every arm of the Dept of Justice and IC. The use of city, county and state law enforcement is not only recommended, but crucial for the ever developing landscape within our borders. Leveraging the local enforcement would essentially be the equivalent of having vetted and credible HUMINT informants. Simultaneously, with public record databases, the officers would be inputting and data mining OSINT record capabilities.

The City of Seattle enlisted the world’s largest tunnel boring machine called “Big Bertha” back in 2013. Since then, the boring machine has faced numerous challenges. Since it’s arrival to Seattle in 20113, Big Bertha has traveled only 1,280 feet out of the 9,210 foot destination. At this point, the tunnel was expected to be almost done by now. But, due to the errors occurring with the machine and unexpected geographical problems it has set Seattle back by two years of drilling. With so much time lost, many are questioning whether the city should continue to support the project.

Our transportation system, quite arguably, may embody our most vital system, as Infrastructure and Democracy clarifies, “access is the hallmark of a great infrastructure” (Jones, Reinecke). By great contrast, our roads remain a current issue. 42 percent of America’s urban highways remain congested, costing the United States 101 billion dollars in wasted time and fuel each year. Also, the32 percent of roads, in poor or mediocre condition, cost the average traveler $324 per year (American Infrastructure Report Card). Unfortunately, updating the highway systems seems longer than it may seem, as the Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates that from proposal to completion most highways will need nine to nineteen years to fix (Leduc, Wilson 129). In addition to the roads, our bridges are failing just as much. One of every nine bridges within the United States is categorized as structurally deficient. The average bridge 42 years old, and in order to eliminate the bridge renovation backlog, our country would need to invest twenty and a half billion dollars until 2028 (American Infrastructure Report Card). However, in 2013, the United States only invested 12.8 billion dollars in bridge reconstruction and repair (American Infrastructure Report Card). Also, our countries transit