The Department of Homeland Security was formed in order to protect the United States from threats such as natural disasters and domestic and international security hazards. This department was established in 2002 and is currently requesting a budget of 40.6 billion dollars for 2017 in order to achieve its mission of “preventing terrorism and enhancing security, securing and managing our borders, enforcing and administrating our immigration laws, safeguarding and securing cyber space, and strengthening national preparedness and resilience” (Johnson, 2017). While the intentions of the DHS may seem to be in favor of protecting the United States, the department is actually creating conflict because of structural inefficiency. These inefficiencies …show more content…
An experiment done by journalist Jeffery Goldberg exhibited the inefficiency of government ran security services. He proved that it was extremely easy for individuals with the intent to harm to get through the TSA by forging his own boarding pass and drivers license, and making it through security with suspicious clothing and no further screening. Privatization of TSA can fix this lack of effort by creating a competitive market in which firms compete for the best overall security standards. Competition in markets drives efficiency and low costs due to the need of customers (in this case it could be airlines picking security agencies). This method reduces lazy spending that the TSA has been criticized in the past by the Inspector General for “handing out excessive bonuses, throwing lavish awards ceremonies, and spending in other wasteful ways” (Roth, 2015). This method of privatization has already been implemented into airports and has shown success. The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure found “private screeners at the San Francisco airport were 65% more efficient than the federal screeners at the Los Angelos airport” (Edwards, 2013) in California. Privatization also has the ability to protect the civil liberties of the American people by allowing them to create their own contracts with airlines and security services, thus leaving the government out of the
Chapter 1-3 showed the beginnings of homeland security and the expansion and growth of Homeland Security. Chapter 4 shows the actions of homeland security, and the steps they take toward a problem to access it. The DHS above all needs to realized and understand how to address an attack quickly and efficiently, and have counter measure put into place beforehand. The DHS must be able to access the risks of any situation, and must decipher the potential hazard the situation could cause. When looking at the many functions of the DHS, nothing could be more important than the ability to understand or hinder or stop an attack man made or not. First Homeland Security studies the nature of the risk; this means that they study what is likely to happen in a certain situation. The texted explains risk as what can go wrong. A cigarette smoker takes a risk every time he lights up, and everyone take a risk when getting into a car. The DHS takes what they know from prior circumstances to determine the reality of the risk; the department must also anticipate any attack even without prior knowledge to the circumstance. The main questions of risk assessment are easy to understand, questions like will people be injured or harmed. But when looking at chapter 1 which asks the reader to look further into why terrorist commit terrorism, that’s when its easier to see the DHS skill at risk assessment. For example if you understand that a terrorist attack could be coming from radical Islamist terrorist; then you would understand a risk by understanding their motive behind the attack like their religious holidays. The DHS uses a three-fold method for risk assessment and they are threat, vulnerability and consequence. The Rand organization uses th...
... of the government to meet an evolving terror threat actually ends up masking the far more important government responsibility for overall national preparedness, not just guarding against terrorism. The billions of dollars and staggering amount of effort spent on crafting the mushrooming homeland defense/homeland security enterprise certainly helped plug some existing holes, but the rampant inefficiency continues to be a point of contention today. The overly broad notions of counter-terrorism and homeland defense means “any expense can be justified” as proven by the decade long rise in DHS budgets and numerous instances of wasteful spending. The headfirst plunge into the world of homeland security was a uniquely American undertaking. No other nation possessed the fiscal means to enact such drastic measures on so many levels, and in such a short amount of time.
After the fear of terrorism grew in the United States do to the Al Qaeda 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the US Government found a need for a centralized department that umbrellas all other agencies when it comes to homeland security. The U.S. Government found this umbrella agency with the passage of the Homeland Security Act by Congress in November 2002, the Department of Homeland Security formally came into being as a stand-alone, Cabinet-level department to further coordinate and unify national homeland security efforts. (Homeland Security) With the creation of the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) the government had a pinpoint location for the collection and gathering of intelligence, control of policies that effect national security, and a no fail mission. The Department of Homeland Security started to engulf other agencies and created many more, a total of 22 agencies now fall under the DHS. The DHS is control of all areas that deal with national security which included but are not limited to coastal and boarder protection, domestic terrorism, international terrorism, protection of the American people, protection of key infrastructure, protection of key resources and respond to natural disasters.
“What time should we leave? Two hours in advance? Three? Four?” Millions of people ask these questions each year before boarding a plane. Between driving, security, walking to the gate, and getting settled, boarding a plane exhausts travelers. But out of all of these different activities, one frustrates and restrains travelers the most: TSA security. People ask why they need all this security, complain about the inconvenience it causes, and ultimately annoys people to no end. Created after 9/11, Transportation Security Administration, or TSA, nationalized airport security, increased screening duration, and supposedly increases security on flights. However, statistics say these added security measures never come to fruition and potentially cost more lives than they save.
Chuck Goodwin explains, “TSA, which stands for Transportation Security Administration, is an agency in the Department of Homeland Security and is responsible for screening all travelers and their luggage, as well as the screening of all air and rail transportation in the US.” Many travelers know of the them for their increased presence in all airports in the U.S and other major American airports worldwide. After the terrorist attack that took place in September 2001, President Bush and his advisors implemented The Patriot Act. Tracey DiLascio explains, “The Patriot Act is complex, but its major provisions act to improve coordination and communication between government intelligence agencies, removing unwieldy and unnecessary legal barriers between different federal offices and allowing vital investigations to proceed with greater ease and efficiency.” Their idea was to ensure that all intelligence agencies would communicate in a way that would keep America safe. “Steps to prevent events of the scale of those that took place at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, began to fall into place almost immediately...The first outline of a proposal for what would eventually become the USA Patriot Act was drafted just days after the attacks.” (DiLascio) Due to past terrorist attacks, the TSA has implemented security measures in the airports they occupy. “Following September 11, 2001, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was created to strengthen the security of the nation’s transportation systems and ensure the freedom of movement for people and commerce.” (TSA website) These measures include full body scanners and pat downs.
Prior to the terrorist attacks that took place in the United States on September 11, 2001, security screening of airline passengers was contracted by individual airports or by the airline companies themselves. Afterward, with the passing of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA), the power of securing the nation's airports was given to the Transportation Security Agency (TSA). (ATSA, 2001)
Homeland Security is one of the most important departments in the United States. The United States Department of Homeland Security job is to reduce our vulnerability to terrorism and lead a national effort to help prevent terrorist attacks on our nation (Computer Concept, pg. 50). As technology evolves over the course of time, computers end up playing a crucial role in homeland security.
Of this total, around $500 billion comprises the base budget which “includes funding for the procurement of military equipment and the daily operations costs of U.S. bases” (Gould & Bender, 2015). Basically, home defense measures amount to over eighty-percent of the nation’s defense budget. With these astronomical figures, one may question whether or not these types of expenditures are excessive when considering the infrequency of attacks on U.S. soil. To further break down this nearly $500 billion base budget, roughly $200 billion is allotted for operations/maintenance, $135 billion for military personnel, $90 billion for procurement, and $65 billion for research/development (Gould & Bender, 2015). In a world where people rush to purchase lottery tickets at the hopes of hitting a jackpot worth a few million, these expenditures are incomprehensible and may seem excessive; however, not everyone feels this way. In an article found on the U.S. Department of Defense’s website, the “DoD has done its best to manage through this prolonged period of budget uncertainty, the secretary said, making painful choices and tradeoffs” and that in “today’s security environment we need to be dynamic and we need to be responsive. What we have now is a straitjacket” (Pellerin, 2015). At the end of the day, it is all about who is being asked whether the defense
Homeland Security’s mission is “to secure the nation from the many threats we face. With honor and integrity, we will safeguard the American people, our homeland, and our values.”[3]
...the nation’s critical infrastructure. With the creation of the DHS the government has shown that they are investing money and resources into protecting our nation’s infrastructure.
The DHS has demonstrated great leadership but lacked the necessity to create effective affiliations in communicating and utilizing information, which like seen in 9/11 dramatically affected the outcome and security of the country. “The Department of Homeland Security, has poorly positioned themselves to receive intelligence from the intelligence community agencies because it does not do intelligence collection on its own and hence will have nothing to trade” (DHS, 2016). Since then, DOJ. FBI, DNI, CIA, and other federal agencies like the DHS have increased their channels of intelligence and their means of communication with one another. This has led to an increase of arrests made towards Americans on terrorism related
Over the course of the history of the United States of America, the country has had struggles with its own borders and the protection of those borders. Illegal immigration is a big problem and the smuggling of drugs, weapons, and cash over our borders into our country has evolved into a bigger problem. The United States has over seven-thousand miles of border to cover each day. That is quite a bit of land, but the only problem with this is there is a lack of manpower to cover every single mile of border. The US shares its borders with Canada and Mexico. All along these borders are small communities and cities that are occupied by US citizens. This means that these cities and communities require the protection of our Homeland Security Agency.
There are many reasons why people believe that airport security should be more enforced. One reason is because of historical events. There are attacks that date all the way back to the 1930s. For example, there was an attack over Chesterton, Indiana killing all seven people that were aboard the small airplane. In 1949, a man from Canada named Albert Guay set a dynamite bomb in his wife’s luggage before she boarded the DC- 3 aircraft. Everyone on the plane was killed in the explosion. Later, him and his two accomplices that were involved in the making and the transporting of the bomb were arrested, and then they were executed. In 1970, President Nixon passed a law that said every person that gets on a plane, and their luggage, have to be screened before they board. Additionally in 1972, the FAA or the Federal Aviation Administration, made it mandatory that the airliner companies scan every passenger with a metal detector to try to prevent hidden weapons. On Christmas day of 2009, a man named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23 year old from Nigeria, attempted to set off explosives aboard a Northwes...
...ts of terrorism against the United States. Homeland security has not only proven to be effective, it has shown that it is providing safety for the U.S. and its citizens against terrorist attacks.
As our relies on networks increase our national infrastructure becomes more vulnerable to cyber-attack. This is because we rely heavily on networks to communicate, travel, run our economy and provide government services. This is why cyber intrusions and attacks have increases over the last decade. With this increase in cyber-attack come exposing of information which can be used to collect intelligence information; disrupting critical operation, and imposing high cost on the economy. The only thing the intelligence community can do at this point is prepare the nation for future cyber-attack. DHS needs to recognize cyber security challenges and address them. DHS also need to collaborate with government entities about cyber threats. As for the government they should be updating network every 6 months to decrease the possible of