Good Example Of Research Paper On Homeland Security

The concept of homeland security was launched after the threatening and horrifying crisis of 9/11, 2001. The main purpose behind the establishment of Department of Homeland Security is to prevent and eliminate future terrorists’ attacks and to assess any possible threats beforehand.
The policy of homeland security has been significantly successful as the country has not faced any severe threat since the conception of the homeland security department. Hence, it can be conveniently claimed that despite some of the disadvantages of the homeland security department it has been successful in delivering the main purpose of its establishment (David, 2002).

Success of Homeland Security

One of the main success story of Department of homeland security of United States of America is that since the terrorist attacks of 2001 there has been no significant death that can be acclaimed as deaths from terrorist attacks in the country.
Even though the homeland security budget has increased dramatically, but it has been considerably effective in reducing the terrorists and foiling the terrorist threats on a timely basis. The American authorities have claimed that they have foiled many terrorist attacks since the 9/11 incident and the credit goes to the increased homeland security.
One planned attack that was almost conducted by the homeland security department intervened on timely basis was the arrests of the six terrorists who had planned to conduct an attack on the U.S. Army base in New Jersey in 2007. Since then there have been a number of attacks that have been saved by the agency (Harry, 2009).
Another advantage of the homeland security is the establishment of fusion centers that help in the prevention of terrorism and provide rapid response to emergency situations. The fusion centers were designed a joint investigative program between the US department of the Justice Office and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The fusion centers are designed in a way that they can gather relevant information from the government agencies as well as their private partner companies as well. The fusion centers were established to share information at the government agency level such as Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Department of Justice of US, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other intelligence agencies.
The fusion centers are a success factor for Department of Homeland Security as there have been more than seventy fusion centers that have been recognized till now. The fusion centers are also associated with emergency response force that help in disaster management in the country (David, 2002).
Right after the 9/11 attacks the Homeland Security Advisory System was established that provided color codes to different terrorism risks and also provided advisory scales in order to provide detail information regarding the terrorist acts of the Federal, local and state authorities.
All the procedures that occur at the government facilities are linked with these alert threats for examples if the risk level is high all the vehicles that enter the government facility are thoroughly checked.
After 2003, this department is operating successfully under the command of DHS. This department played an integral role in 2011, when the Department of Homeland Security advised the citizens to create an emergency kit and plan for their family and themselves and various means of communication during an emergency situation (Jacob, 2007).

Failure of Homeland Security

It has been reported by many that the Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS) is the main department to provide threat alert as discussed above, but it has failed to fulfill its main task of providing security alerts and it has miserably failed in the mission assigned to it.
Many have criticized that country’s leaders cannot provide protective security actions by merely setting a threat alert. In fact, the government agencies and the partner companies must be compelled to understand that the desired actions are totally worth spending the costs (Isikoff, 2003).
This trust and belief in the department can only be generated once the information is shared that is behind the security alert or by establishing confidence in the threat alert system. The Advisory System did not fulfill both the tasks as it was not designed to develop confidence and trust behind the security alerts.
In fact, the creator of the system believed that the general public will trust the national leaders and believed every information they will provide. Since it was established, HSAS became highly political in its decision-making and there was no mechanism designed to recover the confidence back. Hence, it was established that a substitute department of HSAS must be developed that should follow the procedures of HSAS but provide more compliance and audit to promote the terror alerts (Ervin, 2006).
Another failure of the homeland security department is the way it handled the catastrophic situation of Hurricane Katrina, which occurred almost four years after the September 11 attacks and almost 2-3 years after the establishment of Department of Homeland Security and National Response Plan.
The government response team was unable to provide basic protection to the people who suffered from this national catastrophic situation. The risk factors went unmanaged. There were enough warnings that Hurricane Katrina will hit New Orleans, but the emergency response team was unable to convert this information into an emergency response plan to develop appropriate disaster management strategy.
Since the tasks were unclear in the government agencies, the response was further weakened as the emergency response team failed to recognize the significance of the emergency situation.
It can be safely claimed that DHS was unable to perform its operations well, and many institutional capacities were unable to manage their tasks appropriately. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was also weakened and unable to perform under the Bush government and the DHS leadership also failed to operate in a proper manner and handle the situation accordingly. The Department of Homeland Security responded as it was a normal, natural disaster (Harry, 2009).

Conclusion

The main purpose behind the establishment of Department of Homeland Security is to prevent and eliminate future terrorists attacks and to assess any possible threats beforehand. The policy of homeland security has been significantly successful as the country has not faced any severe threat since the conception of the homeland security department.
Even though the homeland security budget has increased dramatically, but it has been considerably effective in reducing the terrorists and foiling the terrorist threats on a timely basis. The American authorities have claimed that they have foiled many terrorist attacks since the 9/11 incident and the credit goes to the increased homeland security. Right after the 9/11 attacks the Homeland Security Advisory System was established that provided color codes to different terrorism risks and also provided advisory scales in order to provide detail information regarding the terrorist acts of the Federal, local and state authorities.

References

Chertoff, M. (2009). Homeland security. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
David Walker (June 2002) Homeland Security: Proposal for Cabinet Agency Has Merit, But Implementation Will Be Pivotal to Success, Report GAO-02-886T (Washington, D.C.: General Accounting Office, p. 7.
Ervin, Clark Kent (2006) Open Target: Where America is Vulnerable to Attack, Palgrave Macmillan,p. 34.
Harry W. Richardson (2009) The Economic Impacts of the September 11, 2001, The Terrorist Attacks Identifying the Regional Economic Impacts of 9/11” Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy, Volume 15, Issue 2, p.1-2.
Isikoff, Michael (2003) Failure to Communicate, Newsweek, Vol. 142 Issue 5, p34-36.
Jacob N. Shapiro and Dara Kay Cohen (2007) Color Bind: Lessons from the Failed Homeland Security Advisory System. International Security 32, no. 2, pp.121-154.