Department Of Homeland Security: The United States Against Threats

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 Department of Homeland Security plays in a very important part in terrorism. DHS protect the United States from foreign and domestic threats to the United States. One of the missions is to find and destroy any weapon of mass destruction. Cyberspace is a threat to the United States in the technology field. DHS have to stop threats, hazards and disasters in its tracks at large public gatherings.

President George W. Bush, appointed Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge as the first Director of the Office of Homeland Security in the White House. The office duties are to oversee and coordinate a comprehensive national strategy to safeguard the country against terrorism and respond to any future attacks. On November 2002, Congress passed the Homeland Security Act and the Department of Homeland Security became a stand-alone, Cabinet-level department. The department’s vision is to coordinate and unify national homeland security efforts. The creation of the department forms the most substantial reorganization of the federal government agencies since the National Security Acts of 1947. Ultimately this placed military departments under a secretary of defense and created the National Security Council (NSC) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The Department of Homeland Security incorporates 22 government agencies that holds 179,000 people into one organization. The organization consists of five directorates: Border and Transportation Security, Emergency Preparedness and Response, Science and Technology, Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection and Management. In regard to border and transportation security , DHS manages who and what enters into the United States to prevent the entry of terrorists and the instruments of terrorism. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), an agency of DHS is responsible for Emergency Preparedness and

The Department of Homeland Security is responsible for protecting the United States of America. However, it is a very complex and

Prior to the catastrophic 9/11 attacks The Department of Homeland Security was known as only Homeland security. Homeland security initially was defined as, “A concerted national effort to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, reduce America’s vulnerability to terrorism, and recover from and minimize the damage of attacks that do occur.” (McEntire, 2009) In response to what marked the United States forever, the September 11 attacks, the federal government then procreated what is now known as The Department of Homeland Security. The Department of Homeland Security also known as DHS is now known as a, “Newly created organization which aims to prevent terrorist attacks or react to them effectively; it is also comprised of over 170,000 employees from 22 federal agencies and

As a Chief executive, the president’s main duties are to enforce and execute laws however they see fit. The President signs executive orders directing law enforcement agencies, including the agencies that enforce immigration laws, that has “prosecutorial discretion”– the power to decide whom to investigate, arrest, detain, charge, and prosecute. The Agencies may develop discretionary policies specific to the laws they are charged with enforcing, the population they serve, and the problem they face. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) may decide how to prioritize its resources in order to meet its stated enforcement goals that are set by the President. With executive unilateral powers the president, drafts policies without and sometimes over the objection of Congress or the courts. The President can design policies regarding the immigration matter without approval of Congress, he can simply follow the former presidents’ footsteps on immigration laws. I am making the argument that U.S. President does have too much unilateral power.

Since the attack on the United States of America on 9/11, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was established to aid the country in preventing such a horrific event or future threats from happening to the citizens. DHS has had a clean record so far and it seems to be doing a great job in deterring the terrorist’s threats from reaching the American population. There has been no serious terror attack on the United States soil since the establishing of DHS. This is not an easy feat since there are so many rules and agencies that feed intelligence, support, equipment, and personnel to this large department. To have coordination of over twenty-two agencies and ensure they are all working together is a task that may seem impossible but it is one that DHS has hit upon head-on. All the agencies must be aware of the intelligence and actions and risks that are prevalent so as to prepare themselves. Then the next hurdle is to gather intelligence and information from the citizens without violating the Patriot Act which protects the rights of the people. There is a fine line that must be monitored and not crossed in fear of interfering on someone’s rights. In some instances the people will not comply with DHS and therefore they receive a negative aspect from the population. If DHS is not able to gather intelligence from the people without infringing on their rights, what makes them so sure that the department will protect them?

After the attacks on September 11th, 2001 the United States was forced to reassess its policies over the defense of the country within its borders. Until that time the United States’ homeland security was under the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice (Masse, O’Neil, & Rollins, 2007). After the attack the Executive branch of the government created a new organization that would be responsible for deciding where the biggest threats to the country were. This was the birth of the Department of Homeland Security. The Department of Homeland Security is responsible for assessing all risk to the Nation within its borders and developing way to mitigate these threats before a disaster can take place. One of the documents that the Department of

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) covers a variety of topics including: academic engagement, border security, citizenship and immigration services, civil rights and civil liberties, cybersecurity, disasters, economic security, homeland security enterprise, human trafficking, immigration enforcement, international engagement, working with law enforcement, preventing terrorism, and transportation security (Homeland Security, g). DHS works with all law enforcement partners at federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial levels. In these partnerships, communication and information sharing are a focus as well as have better resources and support (i.e. grants and training), and improve analytic capabilities to address threats (Homeland Security, f).

The Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security has the overall responsibility of overseeing the Department and its functions. The Department was created in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attack to better deal with preparing for terrorism (DHS, 2016). The primary mission of homeland security is to prevent terrorism and enhance security; secure and manage American borders; enforce and administer American immigration laws; safeguard and secure cyberspace; and ensure resilience to disasters (DHS, 2016). The highest priority for homeland security is protecting the American people by preventing terrorist Homeland Security and Defense

Under the Constitution of the United States has mandated the government to protect the United States of America from any threat, foreign and domestic. The government must deter and prevent attacks on our homeland and as well as deter and threats from potentially occurring. Following 9/11, the Department of Defense has been entrusted with the role in the management of risks facing the United Sates.

These are the people who regularly interact with the public, who are responsible for public safety and security, who own and operate our nation’s critical infrastructures and services, who perform research and develop technology, and who keep watch, prepare for, and respond to emerging threats and disasters” (Homeland Security). There are five core missions that DHS preforms;

It is the responsibility of the Government to provide security to its people. The Department of Homeland Security “DHS” was formed after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Before the attacks, independent agencies handled homeland security. The DHS was formed to have most of these agencies work together under one management to secure America.

Who makes up the DHS? It is comprised of 22 separate (complete and partial components) federal departments and agencies in order to “unify” and “integrate” the effectiveness of the Department. Essentially a hodge-podge, or melting pot of agencies such as U.S. Treasury, Immigration & Naturalization Service (U.S. Customs & Border Protection, U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement, and U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services), Federal Protective Service, Transportation Security Administration, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), etc. Each of these components, or agencies have a particular role in law enforcement; enforcement being the key word. Whether at state, local or federal levels law enforcement has a contributing role and equal to that role an effective role within homeland security intelligence.

The Department of Homeland Security is to protect the nation from any type of threats. Through the Department of Homeland Security are areas such as, aviation, border security, emergency response cybersecurity analyst and chemical facility inspector (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, n.d.). Department of Homeland Security went through a complete overhaul, as a result of the September 11 terrorist attack. “…the Department of Homeland Security Act of 2002 established the Cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and created the position of Homeland Security”