Intelligence Agencies In The Department Of Homeland Security (DHS)

While the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is one, centralized agency, securing the homeland involves the cooperation and collaboration of many, different agencies and organizations ranging from local law enforcement to national agencies such as the NSA, CIA, and FBI. Each of these agencies contributes to the development of homeland security intelligence. By carefully analyzing and commenting on the objectives, tasks, strengths, weaknesses, and roles of each agency, a larger picture emerges regarding the capabilities and limitation of intelligence in supporting homeland security efforts.

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.

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.

The creation of the Department of Homeland Security was a result of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. “The establishment of this organization provided this nation with a real opportunity for making vast improvements within our communities social and economic infrastructures to combat all threats, mainly terrorism” as stated by Bullock, (2013, P. 1). The 9/11 attacks exposed a

Congress has for a long time has tried in various ways to oversee the intelligence community which have shown to be sometime controversial, and a very difficult responsibility. What make this task so hard is the secrecy and sensitivity intelligence information finding, the sources, and the methods in which the information is obtain. Congressional oversight has evolved since the mid-1970s and a lot more since the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. The critics about Congressional oversight by some as being inadequate, ineffective, or worse, while at the same time proposal that was made in the 9/11 commission report was met with challenges from within the Legislature Branch and from the Executive Branch

The homeland security is a department responsible for developing various mechanisms aimed at ensuring that the country is safe. The main focus of homeland security is to shield or reduce the cases of terror attacks. The prevention and response to both manmade and natural disasters also fall under homeland security (McElreath, Jensen, and Wigginton, 10). The Department of Homeland Security, therefore, has a broad range of responsibilities. At its formation in 2003, the department was composed of twenty-two federal agencies with over 180,000 employees. Homeland security’s formation was necessitated by the September 11th attacks in United States. Today, the Department of Homeland Security

The Department of Homeland security was founded shortly after the horrendous attack of the world trade center’s twin towers on November 11, 2001. Congress ultimately passed the Homeland Security Act of 2002 and President Bush signed the bill into law on November 25, 2002. It was the largest U.S. government reorganization in the 50 years since the United States Department of Defense was created. The main priority of the DHS is to protect the United States from terrorist attacks, man-made accidents, and natural disasters. The stated goal of the DHS is to prepare for, prevent, and respond to domestic emergencies, particularly terrorism. The DHS has over 200,000 employees making it the third largest cabinet in the United States after the Departments

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?

The events of September 11th, 2001 forever changed the organizational make-up of Emergency Management. Prior to 9/11, FEMA was the premier organization in the United States that dealt with any sort of disaster management. While FEMA was not without its own particular struggles early on, it had grown into an effective program; often emulated by other Governments for its effectiveness. As the primary Emergency Management function for the United States it was afforded a cabinet level position; thus allowing direct access to the President (Haddow, Bullock, & Coppola, 2011). Functioning as its own entity, FEMA was also able to spend its money as they saw fit, develop its own hierarchy, and most importantly; decide which natural disasters/emergencies to focus a majority of their resources on. Unfortunately for FEMA all of that was lost with the creation of The Department of Homeland Security (DHS). According to (Haddow, Bullock, & Coppola, 2011), “In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, when the Department of Homeland Security was established and FEMA lost its status as an independent agency, emergency management became a minor player” (p. 343). The shift from a focus on natural disasters, to a focus on terrorism has been detrimental for FEMA. First and foremost, FEMA lost its cabinet position and the direct line to the President that it was afforded. While funding was accelerated to DHS in quantities never before seen in emergency management, FEMA, being a subordinate 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 United States Law Enforcement is based on local control rather than on a national level due to the fear of a strong central government. Public security is the role of the government to ensure the protection of citizens, organizations, and the institutions against threats to their well-being. Many people fear that public protection is lacking in the United States and hope for change. The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is a cabinet department of the United States federal government with responsibilities in public security. Public security is an important issue that needs careful consideration specifically in schools, airports, and clubs.

The events that occurred on September 11th, 2001, changed the United States and the rest of the world. President George W. Bush declared a war on terrorism on national television, during a joint session of Congress on September 20th, 2001. The President’s words echoed the cries of this country and during his speech he went step-by-step in his explanation of the events and actions moving forward. After explaining to the nation the details of the events that occurred on September 11th, he requested that American’s not hold all Muslims responsible for the cowardly acts and attacks. He acknowledged the country may face many challenges in finding and eliminating the elusive enemy. Turning our countries grief and anger in to a mission to rebuild and overcome was part of his plan.

The Department of Homeland Security do have grants available for its programs, however there is a need to know where the grants need to be channel to, for better productivity. As recommendation, there is a need to continue encouraging forums where intergovernmental agencies and the citizens can frequently have an open discussion such as media chats and possible quarterly live Television programs, there should be a day or a week in the year dedicated to Human Trafficking. Also a monthly magazine would be a good idea to collaborate into the awareness effort.

U.S. intelligence agency within the Department of Defense that is responsible for cryptographic and communications intelligence and security. Its headquarters are in Fort Meade, Maryland. The NSA grew out of the communications intelligence activities of U.S. military units during World War II. It was established in 1952 by a presidential directive from Harry S. Truman in which he specified its mission as to provide an effective, unified organization and control of the communications intelligence activities of the United States conducted against foreign governments, to provide for integrated operational policies and procedures pertaining thereto.

Since the attacks on September 11th, 2001, intelligence activities has been one of the most controversial issues facing this country with one of the most controversial being the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Created in November of 2002 and concepted just two weeks after the attacks, the DHS focuses in five goals; prevent terrorism and enhance security, secure and manage the borders, enforce and administer immigration laws, safeguard and secure cyberspace,