Homeland security

For the United States Cabinet department, see United States Department of Homeland Security. For the NBC television movie, see Homeland Security (film).

Homeland security is an American umbrella term for "the concerted national effort to ensure a homeland that is safe, secure, and resilient against terrorism and other hazards where American interests, aspirations, and ways of life can thrive to the national effort to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, reduce the vulnerability of the U.S. to terrorism, and minimize the damage from attacks that do occur."

Homeland security is not constrained to terrorist incidents. Terrorism is one of many threats that endanger society. Within the U.S., an all-hazards approach exists regarding homeland security endeavors. In this sense, homeland security encompasses both natural disasters and man-made events. Thus, the domain of homeland security must accommodate a plethora of situations and scenarios, ranging from natural disasters (e.g., Hurricane Katrina) to acts of terrorism (e.g., Boston Marathon bombing).

The term came about following a reorganization of many U.S. government agencies in 2003 to form the United States Department of Homeland Security after the September 11 attacks, and may be used to refer to the actions of that department, the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, or the United States House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security.

Homeland defense (HD) is the protection of U.S. territory, sovereignty, domestic population, and critical infrastructure against external threats and aggression.

In the United States

In the United States, the concept of "Homeland Security" extends and recombines responsibilities of government agencies and entities. According to Homeland security research, the U.S. federal Homeland Security and Homeland Defense includes 187 federal agencies and departments, including the United States National Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the United States Coast Guard, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, the United States Secret Service, the Transportation Security Administration, the 14 agencies that constitute the U.S. intelligence community and Civil Air Patrol. Although many businesses now operate in the area of homeland security, it is overwhelmingly a government function.

The George W. Bush administration consolidated many of these activities under the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), a new cabinet department established as a result of the Homeland Security Act of 2002. However, much of the nation's homeland security activity remains outside of DHS; for example, the FBI and CIA are not part of the Department, and other executive departments such as the Department of Defense and Department of Health and Human Services play a significant role in certain aspects of homeland security. Homeland security is coordinated at the White House by the Homeland Security Council, currently headed by John Brennan.

Homeland security is officially defined by the National Strategy for Homeland Security as "a concerted national effort to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, reduce America's vulnerability to terrorism, and minimize the damage and recover from attacks that do occur". Because the U.S. Department of Homeland Security includes the Federal Emergency Management Agency, it also has responsibility for preparedness, response, and recovery to natural disasters.

According to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget and Homeland Security Research Corporation, DHS Homeland security funding constitutes only 20-21% of the consolidated U.S. Homeland Security - Homeland Defense funding, while approximately 40% of the DHS budget funds civil, non-security activities, such as the U.S. coast guard search and rescue operations and customs functions. The U.S. Homeland Security is the world's largest Homeland counter terror organization, having 40% of the global FY 2010 homeland security funding.

The term became prominent in the United States following the September 11, 2001 attacks; it had been used only in limited policy circles prior to these attacks. The phrase "security of the American homeland" appears in the 1998 report Catastrophic Terrorism: Elements of a National Policy by Ashton B. Carter, John M. Deutch, and Philip D. Zelikow.

Homeland security is also usually used to connote the civilian aspect of this effort; "homeland defense" refers to its military component, led chiefly by the U.S. Northern Command headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The scope of homeland security includes:

• Emergency preparedness and response (for both terrorism and natural disasters), including volunteer medical, police, emergency management, and fire personnel;
• Domestic and International intelligence activities, largely today within the FBI;
• Critical infrastructure and perimeter protection;
• Investigation of people making and distributing child pornography;
• Border security, including both land, maritime and country borders;
• Transportation security, including aviation and maritime transportation;
• Biodefense;
• Detection of radioactive and radiological materials;
• Research on next-generation security technologies.

Criticism

Conflicts exist between bodies of international law (ratified by the United States or not) and those applied under "homeland security". One example is the notion of an unlawful combatant. The United States government has created a new status that addresses prisoners captured by a military force who do not conform with the conditions of the Convention. While the United States has only been a signatory to portions of the Geneva Conventions, much international law is based upon it.

As a field of study

Shortly after the September 11 attacks, Homeland security also took off as an up-and-coming academic field with a number of schools in the United States offering Academic certificate and degree programs in Homeland Security. The field is often studied alongside Emergency Management due to their similar nature and purposes. With the relatively sudden growth of the field, the quality of the programs vary greatly from one to another along with their respective accreditation statuses (or lack thereof). In a partial effort to combat these variations, the International Association of Emergency Managers offers a scholarship program with the aim of nurturing, promoting and developing disaster preparedness and resistance by furthering the education of students studying the fields of emergency management, disaster management or related programs such as Homeland Security.

Homeland Security is often thought of as a specifically American term referring to the role of the United States' reformed national security infrastructure beginning in 2003. However, neither the term nor the concept of Homeland Security are specific to the United States. Though terminology varies, an equivalent might be seen in Israel's Ministry of Public Security. Within Homeland Security as an academic field, Homeland Security is sometimes studied in Comparative context, by scholars of Comparative Politics or Comparative Criminal Justice. For example, the British political scientist Paul Wilkinson edited and contributed to a textbook on Homeland Security policy and practice from a British perspective. The scholar Nadav Morag looks at a global perspective on homeland security management and strategies in the book Comparative Homeland Security: Global Lessons.

Professional Certification

Certified Homeland Protection Professional is a professional certification established by the National Sheriffs' Association in partnership with the National Domestic Preparedness Coalition, through the Global Center for Threat, Risk, and Vulnerability. The designation certifies that individuals have demonstrated competency, knowledge, skills, and abilities in the blended discipline of Homeland Protection, through a rigorous qualification and testing program.

See also

• Airport security
• Civil defense
• High policing
• Infrastructure security
• Port security
• Supply chain security
• Boundaries of Security Report

U.S. specific:

• Homeland Security Act
• Homeland defense
• Center for Homeland Defense and Security (in California)
• Terrorism in the United States
• Texas Virtual Border Watch
• Surface and Air Transportation Programs Extension Act of 2011

Further reading

• United States. Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives. (2008). Compilation of homeland security presidential directives (HSPD) [110th Congress, 2nd Session. Committee Print 110-B]. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. ..

External links

• Homeland Security from UCB Libraries GovPubs
• Rudy Giuliani, 'The Resilient Society,' City Journal, Winter 2008
• U.S. National Strategy for Homeland Security
• Homeland Security: A Selected Bibliography
• Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports on homeland security
• Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports on homeland security
• Comprehensive homeland security links (USAF Air War College site)
• Canadian Ministry of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
• Homeland Security Institute Weekly Bulletin
• Naval Postgraduate School's Center for Homeland Defense and Security
• Homeland Security Newswire - News Wire Publications
• Homeland Security Network (HSN) - Information Backbone for First Respondersfr:Département de la Sécurité intérieure des États-Unis