Homeland security was developed by the United States government to protect the country from external aggression, reduce the likelihood of terrorist attacks and manage the damage that occurs in case of attacks. To this end, the government set up and reconstituted numerous agencies to aid in the fight against terrorism in the United States. The United States Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security constitute the most prominent departments under the United States law to champion the fight against any attacks by extremist groups. Federal, State and local law enforcement agencies, as well as the United States’ military also have a role to play in homeland security. With the increasing cases of attacks and acts of aggression towards the United States, the government sought to strengthen the resolve to curb any attacks aimed at killing or maiming the citizens or destruction of government institutions and installations. In the wake of the September 11 attacks, it was apparent that stringent measures were needed to prevent attacks on American soil and protect the citizens of the country. This paper examines the duties; responsibility and intelligence methods used by the military, federal, State and local law enforcement agencies, as well as homeland security agencies in the fight against terrorism, with the aim of drawing similarities and differences. Differences Duties and responsibilities The military is tasked with the duty and responsibility of protecting the nation from external attacks and managing any attacks that may happen. Over the years, countries across the world have engaged in conflicts originating from differences in policies and invasion of privacy and unfair treatment of citizens in foreign countries. In... ... middle of paper ... ...erican institutions. Homeland security entities are proactive in the fight against terrorism on American soil. Their mandate is to collect information relating to potential attacks and analyze it to find a solution to the danger. With this in mind, these entities employ numerous spying techniques to collect intelligence for safeguarding of the nation. Homeland security entities have spies in almost all the countries in the world, especially those that show aggression towards America. The main aim of these spies is to carry out espionage to determine threat levels and find ways of neutralizing threats (Randol, 2009). This involves deployment of secret agents to areas or countries that exhibit terrorism activity in a bid to collect information. The spies interact with local people and members of terrorist groups using aliases that enable them conceal their identities.
The Executive Order Establishing Office of Homeland Security Council puts forth an agenda on countering terrorist acts; it is done to prevent untold a...
Since September 11, 2001, the criminal justice system has improved its methods to secure our nation from terrorist attacks. These improved methods can be summed into four kinds of categories and actions. The first key action the department of justice took was protecting America through investigation and criminal prosecution. The next changes were legal which were made to enhance the counter-terrorism efforts and help with investigation and prosecution. Then there are the structural changes to the operations of agencies to enhance counter-terrorism efforts....
Fourteen years ago, everyone would remember this day, September 11. After ten years, Eric Holder, Janet Napolitano, and James Clapper wrote an opinion essay, We’re Safer Post -9/11, and published it on a Website USA Today on September 8, 2011. They want to convince readers to believe the USA is much safer than ever.
The recent horrific attacks on France highlighted one of the number one threats to Homeland Security, which is the evolving terrorist. The Evolving terrorist threat is of major concern since 9/11 because “its demonstrated and continued interest in advancing plots to attack the United States” (). A major concern in this area for the United States is the propaganda that is used to motivate individuals who have not participated in terrorist activities or traveled to conflict zones, teaching and training them to plot and carry out attacks on civilian populations. Another huge concern to Homeland security is the threat to our cyber-physical infrastructure. “A vast array of interdependent information technology network, systems, services, and resources enable communication, facilitate travel, power our homes, run our economy and provide essential government services” (). The everyday citizen is so reliant on technology and everything in our country is so interconnected that if the cyber-physical infrastructure would to be compromised it would create a devastating chain reaction across the country. The third concern for Homeland Security is the threat of a pandemic. Even though it is noted as being a very low probability, the impact of it happening even once would be very high impact. “Increasing global
Terrorism is one of the greatest threats facing humanity in the modern society. There has been an increase in the number of terrorist organizations and terror attacks that are conducted by groups in pursuit of divergent ideologies (Burleigh, 2009). Since the 9/11 terror attacks in the United States, terrorism has been recognized as a serious problem that calls for a global and coordinated response by governments across the world. Many countries have invested heavily in intelligence-gathering and purchase of hardware and technology needed to detect and neutralize terrorist attacks. However, this has not stopped the threat faced from terrorism and these attacks continue unabated almost every single day in different parts of the world.
In this week’s assignment we will be looking at a number of significant issues that are or have confronted the intelligence community in a post 9-11 environment. We will quickly touch on the role the Global War on Terrorism has had on changes to the intelligence community’s position, procedures, and policies along with assessing how the intelligence community has directed it efforts when it comes to dealing with traditional military threats from other countries. It is inarguable that for the large majority of times, change is instituted to make a situation better, or to prevent a bad situation from arising. So too can be said about the countless changes in policy and practices that have affected the intelligence community since 9-11. Retrospectively assessing a few of these polices it can become difficult to see in its totality if they have helped the intelligence community or in a way weakened it.
The threat of the terrorism is a global concern and need to be addressed globally in order for it to have effective solutions. The Bureau of Counterterrorism in the State Department (CT) is responsible for continually monitoring the movements of the active terrorist groups flourishing in different parts of the world for the sake of identifying the potential targets for designation. The review of the potential targets by CT considers the counts of the actual terrorist attacking a group has been fund to indulge into, along with the careful understanding about the way the group has planned and prepared for the act and estimating the probability of the acts of terrorism in the future in terms of their capability and intention for pursuing such acts (http://www.state.gov). There have been security threat issues not only in terms of the foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) but the threat is also growing due to domestic terrorism. According to the report of Homeland Security, (2007) it has been indicated that domestic terrorists based and operating within the terrains of United States including the eco-terrorist groups, white supremacist groups, and the animal rights extremists pose a serious terrorist threat to the country (http://www.hlswatch.com). Such groups are observed in all regions of the globe. The official definition of a FTO suggests that these are the foreign organizations designated by the Secretary of State according to the section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) (http://www.state.gov). According to a memo by its Terrorist Research and Analytical Center, the FBI has partially defined Domestic Terrorism as “the unlawful use, or threatened use, of violence by a group or individual based and operating entire...
The United States has endured numerous security breaches and high security threats over the past two decades. After the attacks on 9/11, the office of Intelligence became a vital source in retrieving sensitive data and tracking down potential terrorists and their networks which could pose a threat to the American people and then forwarding that vital information to the Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies. Intelligence became a key role in “assessing threats to critical American infrastructures, bio-and nuclear terrorism, pandemic diseases, threats to the borders to the nation, and radicalization within American society” (Randol, 2009, p. 7). The sharing of homeland security intelligence has become a precedence for Congress and the government. Our nation must be one step ahead of any potential terrorists that want to harm our turf. Within this text the capabilities and limitations of both domestic and foreign intelligence in supporting homeland security efforts will be explained;
There are many laws that helped establish the Department of Homeland Security, however, there are three primary laws. These are the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-296), the USA Patriot Act of 2001 and Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-132). Each of these laws plays a key part in the Department of Homeland Security.
America’s international supremacy originates from the hard work of her agencies at home which provide a strong foundation for security and international diplomacy. One of these security agencies is the National Security Agency, or NSA. “By 2008, the NSA had become the largest, most costly, and most technologically sophisticated spy organization the world has ever known” (Bamford 1). The National Security Agency is a beneficial government program and a core component of protecting America from terrorist attacks.
Detaining suspected terrorists can prevent terrorism and protect our nation; doing such can prevent a crack in national security. Homegrown terrorists pose a large threat to our national security and privacy. Homegrown terrorists are those who pose a threat to securit...
On September 11, 2001 the United States finally understood the reality of terrorism. As people watched The World Trade Center collapse, terrorists became more than a group of Muslims in the Middle East. After that fateful day, terrorism became a real threat, and the United States declared war on Terror. Since then, American soldiers have been sacrificing their lives to keep the United States free from many foreign terrorist groups. The background and history of the terrorist groups helps the United States understand the culture and motivation for the attacks. Therefore, since terrorism is ever present, the United States has
Many people believe that terrorism is the biggest crisis facing us in the modern world. Consequently, legislation such as the Patriot Acts has been passed and the United States Department of Homeland Security has been formed to counteract terrorism. While these methods have been, in part, effective in fighting terrorism, there is still more the United States can do to solve the problem and prevent terrorist attacks.
Espionage involves the recruiting of agents in local and foreign nations. Agents are encourage to have the ability of possessing information, using audio surveillance as well as the use of modern photography, sensing and other techniques and technology to gather secret information. Surveillance with high technology equipment on the ground or from high-altitude planes and satellites has become an important espionage technique.
People decided that the traditional concepts of national security were not enough, and did not necessarily reflect current values or the needs of the people. Traditional concepts of national security place the nation-state at the center of the playing field, and use military and economic power to protect the state’s political and physical sovereignty from external threats. Human security places individuals at the center of the playing field, and focuses on issues that are both transnational and local.