The United States Homeland Security

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.

“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

Some responsibilities of the Department of Homeland Security to insure the safety and security of America from terrorism and other major problems. The main focus of Homeland Security terrorism, border security, customs and emergency management. The major controversy of the Department of Homeland Security is terrorism. The Department of Homeland Security was established on November 25, 2002. It was created for the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001.

On September 11, 2001, there were 2,996 casualties and more than 6,000 others were injured in the terroristic attacks of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Some may say that these acts of terrorism changed the American homeland security for the better, others disagree. Since the events of September 11, 2001, the Department of Homeland Security was created and expanded into one of the largest divisions of the federal government. This paper consists of the lack of homeland security before September 11, 2001, the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, and the development of this department, which is leading America to be safer since the last act of terrorism.

The Department of Homeland Security was formed in the face of the terrorist attacks of 9/11 as part of a nationwide effort to protect the U.S. against terrorism. This department became the third largest federal department in the United States; compose of 22 different federal agencies each with a function with the same objective. The goal of the Department of Homeland Security is to have a singular department with a shared vision, and integrated results-based operations. The federal agencies of DHS include: The U.S. Customs Service, The Immigration and Naturalization Service, The Federal Protective Service, The Transportation Security Administration, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Office for Domestic Preparedness, The Federal Emergency Management Agency, Strategic National Stockpile and the National Disaster Medical System, Nuclear Incident Response Team, Domestic Emergency Support Teams, National Domestic Preparedness Office, CBRN Countermeasures Programs, Environmental Measurements Laboratory, National BW Defense Analysis Center, Plum Island Animal Disease Center, Federal Computer Incident Response, National Communications System, National Infrastructure Protection, Energy Security and Assurance Program, U.S. Coast Guard, and U.S. Secret Service (www.dhs.gov/creation-department-homeland-security). Via the passage of the Homeland Security Act by Congress in November 2002, the Department of Homeland Security officially

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 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

The paper intends to offer a definition and provide the information regarding The Department of Homeland Security, to rule out the speculation in the public arena, describing the various missions, prevent terrorism and elaborate what our government is doing to offer a lasting solution to the current threats of terrorism in the United

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

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is third largest Executive Department of the Federal Government charged with protecting the security of American homeland. Its primary mission is to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, reducing vulnerability to terrorism and minimizing the damage from potential attacks and natural disasters. The DHS was created by President G.W. Bush in the aftermath of terrorist attacks on America in 2001. It is relatively new agency that continues to evolve in the 21st century. In my chosen topic I will perform research on the history and creation of Department of Homeland Security, identify 3 of the 22 agencies within the DHS and describe their responsibilities. The purpose of this paper is to define and give detailed information about Homeland Security in the United States. Exploration of this topic will enhance knowledge about DHS and help understand the responsibilities of the agencies.

Later, the federal, state, and local government responses to disasters such as Hurricane Katrina expanded the concept of homeland security to include significant disasters, major public health emergencies, and other events that threaten the United States, its economy, the rule of law, and government operations (2). Homeland security is the combination of law enforcement, immigration, disaster relief, and terrorist activities within the United States’ borders. This would be based on the local agencies and civilian departments to safeguard the people from any threat within while being assisted by the government. In some aspects of terror attacks, there will be a combination of both homeland security and homeland defense. 9/11 is the perfect example as homeland security was responding to the local disasters and threats while the homeland defense, military, was deploying to get to the root of the threats. This is essential to the way homeland security operates because this will stop the attack on the nation’s soil before it reaches the borders and local government agencies are required. The biggest issue with the homeland security aspect is that 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

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).

Intelligence deals with the process in which specific types of information has been collected, analyzed, refined and provided to the policy makers, so that it will be useful to them in decisions making about potential threats to national security and homeland security (Lowenthal, 2014, p. 10). U.S Government has been benefiting from Intelligence information since the beginning of the country, despite the fact that many people thought that U.S intelligence emanated as a result of cold war (Federation of American Scientists, 1996). For instance, the Office of Naval Intelligence was created in March 1882 followed by the formation of the Military Intelligence Division three years later, charged to collect foreign and domestic military data (Federation of American Scientists, 1996). Other intelligence units in the early republic include the first U.S. Army signals intelligence ("MI-8) formed in 1917; the Justice Department 's Bureau of Investigation created in 1908.

Within the areas of Homeland Security and Homeland Defense lie specific primary missions, tasks, duties, and responsibilities of each. The primary missions, tasks, duties, and responsibilities of Homeland Security and Defense include preventing terrorism and enhancing security, securing and managing our borders, and enforcing immigration laws. In addition to those missions, a new and evolving mission is that of cybersecurity. In the future, is the department ready to tackle these tasks? The department has done a great job at preventing an attack ever since the attacks of 9/11. What types of challenges are faced in the future? The tools that are needed are there, it all depends on how the department moves forward and implements these actions.