Homeland Security

September 11th catalyzed a major revival in the American public’s concern for domestic national security, which had dropped off following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The attacks, which were the first on American soil since Pearl Harbor, prompted American leaders to respond with swift and ambitious military action. At this time, the public perceived security of American territory against “terrorism”–an intentionally broad and emotionally charged term– as its chief national interest. Following the attack, President Bush announced the launch of a “global war on terror”, an international effort to combat terrorist groups and the nations that harbor them–prompting him to establish the Department of Homeland Security later that year.

The Department of Homeland Security was created in the aftermath of one of our nation's greatest tragedies: the events of September 11, 2001 (Newman, 2002). Almost immediately the Department began overseeing 22 federal agencies that pre-existed 9/11. The rationale for this transformation was to improve the coordination of the federal government's various security efforts both internally and externally in an effort to forestall any future terrorist threats. What has occurred, however, is a Cabinet Department that is highly bureaucratic with too many divergent responsibilities. Its effectiveness is questionable and serious consideration should be given to the abolition of the Department and its agencies reassigned to other Departments.

“How much freedom are Americans willing to give up for safety from terrorists?” We the people of the United States are willing to give away our natural born rights to be a safer nation. Millions of innocent lives were lost on 9-11-01. A problem not widely discussed in the United States much until September 11, 2001 the date of the attack from terrorist organizations on the world trade centers’ New York towers in New York City. The United States of America has not worried much about self-defense or in this case homeland security. Due to the actions on September 11th homeland security has been the main goal of many politicians and voters. Homeland security builds coalitions and partnerships, protects civil rights and civil liberties, and

The idea of the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security evolved into the biggest U.S. government reorganization in American history. Prior to the establishment of the Department, Americans increasingly became concerned about terrorism on our soil. This concern was triggered by the World Trade Center bombing in 1993, the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 as well as the discovery of a bomb at the Atlanta Olympics in 1994. Additionally, it became more apparent to the Americans that terrorism has a growing global reach. The U.S. commissions looked at different aspects of the U.S. national security, the Hart-Rudman Commission, the Gilmore Commission as well as the National Commission on Terrorism. The members of the Commission as well

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

Only eleven days subsequently the September 11, 2001 acts of terrorism, George W. Bush, who was the president at the time, made an announcement. As reported by Elizabeth C. Borja, the announcement was that he would “…create an Office of Homeland Security in the White House and appoint Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge as the director” (Borja 4). About one month after the attacks, Senator Joseph Lieberman introduced a new bill meant to establish a Department of National Homeland Security. This again followed the same recommendations of the Hart-Rudman Task Force on Homeland Security. This bill was intended to establish a Cabinet-level department and to unite certain agencies that were vital in critical infrastructure protection. Again, there were hearings held for this specific bill as well, and once more there was no action taken upon it (Borja 5).

After World War II American intelligence had the need to be transformed. The inexperience along with bureaucracy and poor coordination among American intelligence officers obligated the United States intelligence community to change dramatically in order to confront the new challenges that emerged after the end of WWII. From Early America through WWI the intelligence system of the United States of America was involved in operations in which they had to construct intelligence systems virtually from scratch (Andrew 1995). Human intelligence was already developed, but with certain limitations and other intelligence disciplines were underdeveloped and very seldom sophisticated. After WWI America recessed and settled in a period of peace. The

The United States Department of Homeland Security is a section of the U.S. federal government that protects the United States on a daily basis. The Department of Homeland Security is for the protection of the United States of America from terrorist attacks, man -made accidents and natural disasters. This department also has made a scale of terrorism threat which goes from low to severe. The Department of Homeland Security was formed on November 25, 2002, following 9/11. September 11, 2001, was proof that America was as a target to terrorism like other countries and killed 2,977 people. It was 2002 when The United States Department of Homeland Security was formed. Following 9/11, George Bush announced the creation of the Office of

First article I selected was written by Columbia University Press (2012), Homeland Security, United States Department of. The author’s research was taken from The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th edition. Columbia University Press conducted a tremendous research that provides readers clear insight on how and when the Department of Homeland Security was established and under what circumstances. The author indicates that DHS was established in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on Pentagon and World Trade Center. The

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

As we have seen throughout the entire history of warfare, ancient world terrorism, political intrigue and elitist terrorism of the middle ages, and into modern terrorism, intelligence is of vital importance on both sides. Armed forces have always used intelligence of some form be it sneaking up a hill and scouting what is on the other side to the use of modern platforms such as

In response to the devastating events that occurred on September 11, 2001, the Department of Homeland Security was created. A new perspective that the tragic attack forced upon the government was that our borders started way beyond the water’s edge and to effectively combat national security threats, they had to be stopped prior to reaching our borders. That is one realization that has caused international governments to work together to help one another track and monitor travel and threat potential from individuals around the world. Another key perspective that the attack brought to the government was the need for interagency coordination. Why? Homeland Security is not cannot be tackled from solely and international perspective, government

Intelligence, as defined by the Oxford Dictionary is “the collection of information of military or political value.” Intelligence was a vital asset in war effort of both the Allies and Axis powers during World War II. The collection and manipulation of intelligence by the British during the Second World War aided the Allies in their victory over Germany and the rest of the Axis powers. Intelligence collection takes several forms and intelligence collected had a variety of purposes. An examination of the different forms of collection and uses of intelligence will highlight their role in aiding the Allies be victorious over the Axis powers.

For hundreds of years human intelligence operations have been conducted. Nation states have always had a desire and a need to know what friendly and unfriendly countries are doing. For national security purposes knowledge is power. Human intelligence collection has changed throughout history and is different depending on who is conducting it. International laws, brokered agreements, internal laws and policies dictate how human intelligence is collected. By looking at a known adversary, one can apply a human intelligence mission in order to defeat or negate the enemies’ actions. No region is more suitable for human intelligence missions than Israel and the occupied territories of Palestine. Israeli intelligence and the Israeli military have

Counterintelligence (CI) involves actions aimed at protecting the United States against foreign intelligence operations and espionage from penetration and disruption by hostile nations or their intelligence services (Lowenthal, 2014). Three main components of Counterintelligence include collection, defensive and offensive. The collection is the ability to gather intelligence information about rivalry capabilities against own nation; defensive part of CI involves measures to prevent and thwart other nations ' attempts to penetrate into own nation 's intelligence system; while an offensive aspect deal with running double agents to penetrate, manipulate, exploit, and control targeted adversaries. CI is said to be the most essential aspect of the intelligence disciplines, in the sense that it helps in collecting vast quantities of secret information and produce an excellent analysis of intelligence, although, ineffective counterintelligence measures may diminish confidence in the final results (Van Cleave, 2013).