Homeland Security Plan

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Homeland Security Plan

The United States Homeland security is a key department whose mission is to establish an incorporated national effort to protect the state and maintain the freedom within it. The department does not only protect the state from terrorists, but it also prepares it for any natural disasters and how to deal with them.

The Threat

With the 9/11 attacks, the US were alerted of the new and upcoming dangers, since the American population has become a target to the terrorists. The Americans are living in fear of being attacked at any time. Before National security mainly focused on possible attacks and ignored to focus on local security and civil rights. This proved ineffective with the attack of 9/11 and the possible future terrorist attacks (Sauter & James, 2005).

Today’s attacks from terrorists are much different from the past one. This is because of new environments globally, interconnectivity among terrorists and advance in WMD. The advance in modern technology has also proven to be a tool that has helped terrorists. This includes communication like cell phones, encrypted mails, video tapes, chat, CD-ROMs and satellite phones, travelling freely to other countries, commerce and new tools (Sauter et al, 2005).

Outcomes of Terrorist Attacks

There are many effects that terrorist attacks could have on the state. According to Sauter et al (2005), it can range from human effect to financial crisis. To humans, this can cause both physical and psychological harm.

The other effect is in terms of financial crisis. With attacks like the 9/11, the U.S economy can be damaged, and many corporations, sectors and even the government may incur significant losses. The costs can be on the killed and injured persons and the infrastructures or other assets. There are other costs that are long term are the loan granted to affected corporations and costs incurred for security reasons like having new homeland security programs (Sauter et al, 2005).

Prevention

The Homeland security as a department has several strategy that will help in prevention of terrorist attacks. The first strategy is border and transportation security. This will try to prevent terrorists and any other material from entering the country, and ensure that the border and transportation can allow only legal persons and goods. The second strategy is local counter-terrorism that focuses on law enforcement that will identify terrorists, stop them from executing the attacks and prosecute them. The third strategy is protection of critical infrastructures and assets and these involves spotting out and prioritizing infrastructures of the state and identify it vulnerabilities to threats. The fourth strategy is intelligence and warnings of alerting the state and public about the attack. The fifth strategy is the defense against disastrous threats and it involves detection, prevention and how to manage the consequences of WMD. The last strategy is Preparedness and response to emergency. This focuses on how to minimize the damage and recover from the attacks (Howard et al, 2006).

In conclusion, attempted terror attacks against the U.S are never going to stop. Therefore, the DHS has a responsibility of continuing to evaluate and plan on future terrorist attacks. This is extremely important since, with every advance in technology, the terrorists plan and tools also advance. The DHS should be ready and prepared for the attacks.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY l 1033 Sauter, M. & Carafano, J. J. (2005). Homelad Security: A Complete Guide to Understanding, Preventing, and Surviving Terrorism. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Howard, D. R., Forest, J. J. F., Moore, J. C., & Moore, J. C.(major), (2006). Homeland Security and Terrorism: Readings and Interpretation. New York: McGraw-Hill.