US Department of Homeland Security and Individual Privacy

In society today many citizens feel violated with the security methods taken by homeland security. “On September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States marked the beginning of the global war on terrorism. The methods used are justifiable as they provide protection against possible threats or attacks. This attack on U.S. soil increased surveillance of both American citizens and foreign nationals” (Andrew, C., & Walter,

Privacy is, and should continue to be, a fundamental dimension of living in a free, democratic society. Laws protect “government, credit, communications, education, bank, cable, video, motor vehicle, health, telecommunications, children’s and financial information; generally carve out exceptions for disclosure of personal information; and authorize the use of warrants, subpoenas, and court orders to obtain the information.” (Protecting Individual Privacy in the Struggle Against Terrorists: A Framework for Program Assessment, 2008) This is where a lot of people feel as though they have their privacy violated. Most Americans are law-abiding citizens who do not commit illegal acts against the country, they want to go about their lives, minding their own business and not having to worry about outside interference. The fine line between privacy and National Security may not be so fine in everyone’s mind. While it is the job of government agencies to ensure the overall safety of the country and those living in it, the citizens that obey the law and do not do anything illegal often wonder why they are subject to any kind of search, when they can clearly point out, through documentation, that they have never done anything wrong.

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

Based on this case, the nine Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) disclosure exemptions indicate the information that government agencies can withhold. For instance, documents which are “records or information compiled for law enforcement purpose” (Ciment, 2015). Exemption (7)(A) provides for the withholding of a law enforcement record the disclosure of which would reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings. Furthermore, the 2002 law establishing the Department of Homeland Security gave that department

As previously mentioned, the purpose of the Department of Homeland Security is to promote concerted nationwide efforts in securing the American homeland and way of life. This purpose is achieved through securing the nation's borders, thwarting terrorist attacks, and responding to threats effectively. The department also works to thwart, contain, and counter threats from international criminal activities and national disasters. As part of accomplishing its objectives, the Department of Homeland Security has

robust privacy protections already in place at DHS without risking exposure of personal data by: Enhancing DHS’s already robust Privacy Office to ensure the NCCIC complies with all civilian laws that protect Americans’ privacy and civil liberties. Requiring private companies to ‘scrub’ and remove personal information

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

Since its inception the DHS has gone through a shift in terms of overall concepts and missions. Something had to be done to ensure the safety of American people and protecting the U.S. homeland against future terrorist attacks. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security was enacted shortly after the September 11th 2001 attacks and the creation of DHS was one of the most significant changes made by the U.S. government with a clear mission of protecting our homeland.

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?

Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, recently affirmed that the plan demand from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) included extra counter-terrorism subsidizing for "frameworks to improve data offering around elected, state, neighborhood, and tribal law enforcement." Elsewhere Napolitano portrayed associations with state, nearby, and tribal powers as one of the necessities of the DHS and noted that "partnerships with state, nearby, tribal, and regional offices influence DHS's capacity to recognize dangers and reinforce readiness before an occurrence," and that "information offering between DHS and state and neighborhood governments is especially discriminating to our security."

The United States of America experienced the greatest, and arguably the most significant, restructure of both governmental and legal proportions in its contemporary history. Following the suddenness of the attacks, the United States was desperate to ensure that an onslaught of a similar stature was subdued. Henceforth, the Homeland Security Act of 2002 was established, bringing into existence the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), a department specifically concerned with internal issues faced by the USA. Primarily made as a direct response to the 9/11 attacks, the role of the DHS is to protect the United States of America and its given states and territories from danger; specifically, terrorist attacks, man-made accidents, and natural disasters; this is commonly seen in airports in the form of Customs and Border Control which are two functions of the DHS, following its subsequent take over of the IHS (Immigration and Naturalisation Services) in 2003. In the same movement for security, the *USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 was legislated in an attempt to “detect and prosecute terrorism and other crimes”

In conclusion the DHS uses interrogation as a method of surveillance to verify and correct their information. The DHS knew that Marcus was on the BART at odd times so they began to question him using this form of surveillance. Using surveillance of people can exploit the privacy and the effect from that is fear.

On the other hand, my opponents might say homeland security sacrifices privacy for better protection and safety, but in my opinion it is cheating to go through records without any permission by a guardian or the court. In the United Kingdom, the government has a law called “Do not spy on us” which is using the parliament to stop power on spying citizen’s records, this is a great example to the U.S . It also recommend to have a secure internet for the U.K and to have transparent laws not secret laws. Also, my opponent might say homeland security is preventing acts of terrorism and improving their protection since the 9/11 attacks, but in my opinion, the D.H.S and other police departments are removing privacy from other citizens, many traffic

Although this case seems unique in matter the government has a history of invading the privacy of American companies and citizens. In 2013, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a brief

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”