National Security: Unites States of America - Essay Example

National Security: Unites States of America Introduction National security is an important requirement that allows maintaining the survival of a country using diplomacy, economic power, political power and power projection. The idea of national security developed after the World War II in United States of America. Different problems and challenges associated with national security have occurred across the world with different consequences. An example of such an incident is the September 11, 2001. The aim of this paper is to analyse national security changes that have occurred after 9/11 in United States of America. Before 9/11 The term homeland security was not a common term in United States of America until after 9/11. The idea of securing the homeland and borders from disasters and terrorism has existed for a long time but the agencies and government have utilized different terms and approaches (Perl, 2004). For example, during the Cold Wart, the United States government based their defence on “civil defence” and protecting the American citizens from nuclear attack (Department of Homeland Security, 2013). In the perspective of natural disasters, the US government has played an important role in protecting and responding to earthquakes, hurricanes and industrial accidents and have provided numerous agencies and organisations with assistance in addressing such difficulties. Even most Americans view terrorism as an aspect that occurred after 9/11, terrorism is not a new phenomenon (Randol, 2010). The first terrorism act occurred in February 1993 where a truck bomb was detonated in New York City resulting ion the death of six people and injuring thousands of people. In 1995, Alfred Murrah Federal Building was bombed resulting in the death of 168 people. Maybe, the span of time passed without any incidents that made many Americans not to anticipate for any incident. Information existed on likelihood of the 9/11 incident (Department of Homeland Security, 2013). In 1998, Congress created Hart Rudman Commission (Kowalski, 2008). The first report from this commission was released in September 2011 and contained important information that showed chances of occurrence of terrorism act (Randol, 2010). The information on the report indicated warnings on radicalisation, different security environmental and vulnerability to attacks to the country (Perl, 2004). The final report that was released barely seven months before the 9/11 incident had recommended the creation of National Homeland Security Agency that was responsible for coordinating, planning and integrating various government agencies and departments in guaranteeing homeland security (Department of Homeland Security, 2013). Legislation to support the recommendations was introduced into the Congress but the lawmakers did not give it the seriousness that it deserved (Wilkinson, 2007). Barely six months after submission of the report, more than three thousand people died because of ineffective national security measures. Immediate Response Barely a week after the incident, the President created the Office of Homeland Security and the Homeland Security Council (SCH) that brought together Cabinet department chiefs whose duties were related with security matters. The council operate similarly like National Security Council (NSC) in advising the President on foreign security matters. Another aspect that was considered was reviving the divested United State airline industry, protect the industry form future attacks and restore the confidence of the public in commercial air travel. In November 2011, the US Congress approved the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, which was later signed by the president to become a law (Department of Homeland Security, 2013). The Act created a new section within the Department of Transportation that is referred to as Transportation Security Administration (TSA) (Randol, 2010). The Act enables TSA to become responsible for all modes of transportation in terms of security (Stein, 2003). Specially, it enabled for screening of luggage and passers from the airlines and also made this process to become a federal responsibility (Reese, 2011). Introduction of the TSA played a major role whereby Pat Schambach was tasked with recruiting 20 people to perform information technology functions and was supposed to report his progress within two days. Additionally, pressures were building wherein a full fledged Cabinet department was required since more than 40 federal agencies existed (Department of Homeland Security, 2013). It was important to centralise and coordinate the mission of the homeland security through a specific agency. A legislator had proposed establishment of “Department of National Homeland Security” but it was opposed by White House arguing there was no need of its creation because there were security related issues in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even though opposition was growing on Department of Homeland Security, some legislators championed the idea and pressure continued to build and in 2002 whereby the resistance from the president faded (Perl, 2004). The President on June 6, 2002 proposed creation of a permanent Cabinet level Department of Homeland Security that aimed in bringing together the different security agencies. The act was signed into law in 2002, which was called Homeland Security Act of 2002 that resulted in the creation of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) (Department of Homeland Security, 2013). The Stand-up of Department of Homeland Security The introduction of Department of Homeland Security was not the first time the security changes were been reorganised (Randol, 2010). After the attach on World War II and Pearl Harbour incident, the security department streamlined and consolidated the defence, military and intelligence capabilities through provisions of the National Security Act of 1947 that resulted in the creation of NSC, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Department of Defence. The reorganisation after the World War II took six years but reorganisation after 9/11 took place immediately without exhaustive and comprehensive approach (Perl, 2004). It only took eight months for formation of Department of Homeland Security when the government was about to engage in Iraq and already fighting in Afghanistan (Department of Homeland Security, 2013). The purpose of DHS was to prevent terrorist attacks in United States, minimise damage and recover promptly from terrorism acts and also to reduce the vulnerability of America (Department of Homeland Security, 2013). The department was originally based on five pillars/divisions, which were information analysis and infrastructure protection, border and transport security, management, science and technology, emergency preparedness and response. In addition, DHS had departments for Director of the Secret Service, Commandment of the Coast Guard, Office of Inspector General, Office of General Counsel, Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (Randol, 2010). Moreover, the office had support staff that assisted in international affairs, privacy, civil liberties and the private sector to name some. The process of creating DHS was demanding and required shifting of entire agencies such as Secret Service, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Coast Guard and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centre while other departments and agencies were reorganised. The department that was affected immensely was the one handling customs, naturalisation, animal and plant inspection, immigration and inspectors at the border (Perl, 2004). To unify authority over transport subsystems and the boarder, the agencies were restructured into three new organisations: Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Citizenship and Immigration Services. Reorganisation of the departments and agencies was not a smooth task since considerations were to be made. For example, the domestic counterterrorism functions division was hard to be allocated to either FBI or DHS. Since FBI was a law enforcement agency, it was supervised by the Justice Department and was left with task involving prosecutions and investigation for domestic terror (Department of Homeland Security, 2013). On the other hand, the DHS was left with tasks such as public alerts, warning, and analysis of threats. Other government agencies that were integrated into DHS division include Commerce, Energy, Human Services, Health, Transportation and Justice (Randol, 2010). The importance task for DHS managers was to ensure the reorganisation was streamlined without or with minimum disruptions to its operations (Maurer, 2011). All these process occurred at a time when most citizens believed that there were chances of occurrence of incidents within one to two years after the 9/11 incident. In March 1 2003, the Department of Homeland Security officially tool all the agencies including the employees (Department of Homeland Security, 2013). The entire process tool three phases: stand up the department, integrate the core missions and creation of communication and processing systems. The Challenges Ahead The aim of the reorganisation and integration was to create an agency that brings together national security related issues. Therefore, it means the Department of Homeland Security worked hard to accomplish a unity of purpose, mission and team (Perl, 2004). The task was difficult and tricky because each of the agencies had its own operations and cultures with each having traditions and histories of accomplishing duties. Some departments trace its roots to the 19th century and it is really difficult to integrate operations. In addition, the department lacked a single headquarters building that would have unified the agencies and bring together the different agencies (Department of Homeland Security, 2013). However, this problem would be solved after completion of DHS headquarters on St. Elizabeth’s campus. Another problem that prevents smooth operations of the DHS is the requirement of frequent and constant response to inquiries and oversight from Congress. The DHS activities are held up by more than 88 committees in which each committee requests for different information making the operations of the department to become trickier. The communication and jurisdictions problems inhibits the way the Department of Homeland Security operates and may result in differing misunderstandings among the committees involved. Impact of the Changes The Structural and operational reorganisation in the national security premised on Department of Homeland Security has created numerous challenges within the way tasks and activities are accomplished in America. Some of the impact of these challenges includes: Air Travel The most evident changes after the 9/11 attacks was passing of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act. Initially, the airport activities were handled different and most of the airports outsourced to private security companies (Department of Homeland Security, 2013). The Transportation Security Administration after 9/11 was responsible for formulation and implementation of procedures that were inclusive of stricter directives on luggage and passenger screening (Perl, 2004). Other guidelines include only ticketed passengers were allowed through security procedures while additional array of procedures and machinery were introduced to scan for destructive items and weapons (White, 2010). The procedures went to an extent whereby the passengers were requested to remove shoes and banning of liquids. In addition, the airplanes underwent overhauls. Some of the curtains in the first class cabin were removed by some airlines while the cockpit doors were fortified (Randol, 2010). Moreover, the pilots were allowed to become a federal flight deck officer and are allowed to carry a loaded gun. In order to take care of additional security costs, the government introduced a “Sept. 11 fee” to offset these costs. These additional costs created revenues for the TSA to accomplish their security related activities but affecting consumers. Government After the 9/11 incident, numerous acts were passed and signed into law (Dempsey, 2010). Some of these acts include Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act that required the State Immigration to share immigrant data and visa information with each other. The Post 9/11 G. I. Bill funded educational requirements for the soldiers and the compensation for health for individuals working at Ground Zero as contained in James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 (Department of Homeland Security, 2013). These numerous bills including reorganisation and restructuring of agencies were attributed to consequences to 9/11. Tourism, Immigration and Deportations Pakistan was the country that reduced the number of visa issuance after 9/11 in which both the tourist and immigrant visas fell. It was after 2008 when the Pakistani tourist and immigrant visas reached the levels of pre-9/11 (Randol, 2010). In addition, Morocco and Egypt experienced similar problems but the issuance of the visa have rebound since. Tourism to America also fell for the three years after 9/11. However, from 2004 the statistics indicates the number of tourist surpassed pre-9/11. In the same perspective, the number of Americans who travelled internationally also decreased after the 2001 incident according to information from the Office of Travel and Tourism Industry (Department of Homeland Security, 2013). On the other hand, deportations increased especially in the Central America regions where many people were deported. This was followed by Europe and Asia. This may be attributed to the strategies employed by Department of Homeland Security. American Muslims Violence against Islam increased after the 9/11 incident (Randol, 2010). This indicates the society attributed the incident to Islamic religion rather than radicals. Moreover, security measures were increased when screening persons coming from Middle East, Arabs and Islam (Perl, 2004). This approach really disadvantaged the Muslims and other persons who were not responsible for the incident. The community and society oppressed psychologically these societies and individuals and from the perspective of security, the individuals faced by these challenges can be radicalised (Johnstone, 2006). Conclusion Before the 9/11 incident, there were laws and regulations that governed the security measures. However, there were numerous departments and agencies that operated differently and it was imperative to unify these agencies. After the 9/11, numerous Acts including restructuring and reorganisation of the national security resalted in creation of umbrella security refereed to as Department of Homeland Security. The body was tasked with planning, coordinating and ensuring appropriate information is collected with the sole purpose of ensuring US is protected from terrorism and other related challenges. Even though the entire process was successful, some of the challenges initially faced included lack of enough resources and communication challenges. However, these challenges were solved. The changes that took place in the national security resulted in changes in air travel, American Muslims, government and immigration services. Some of these changes were positive while others were negative. References Dempsey, J. (2010). Introduction to Private Security. London: Cengage Learning Department of Homeland Security. (2013). Home. Available at http://www.dhs.gov/ [Accessed 30 August 2013] Johnstone, R. (2006). 9/11 and the Future of Transportation Security. New York: Greenwood Publishing Group Kowalski, K. (2008). A Pro/Con Look at Homeland Security: Safety Vs. Liberty After 9/11. London: Enslow Publishers, Inc. Maurer, D. 2011. Quadrennial Homeland Security Review: 2010 Reports Addressed Many Required Elements, but Budget Planning Not Yet Completed. Washington, DC: DIANE Publishing Perl, R. (2004). The Department of Homeland Security: Background and Challenges. Terrorism—reducing Vulnerabilities and Improving Responses, Committee on Counterterrorism Challenges for Russia and the United States, Office for Central Europe and Eurasia Development, Security, and Cooperation Policy and Global Affairs, in Cooperation with the Russian Academy of Sciences, page 176. National Academies Press Randol, M. (2010). Department of Homeland Security Intelligence Enterprise: Operational Overview and Oversight Challenges for Congress. Washington, DC: DIANE Publishing Reese, S. (2011). Department of Homeland Security Assistance to States and Localities: A Summary and Issues for the 111th Congress. Washington, DC: DIANE Publishing Stein, H. (2003). Days of Awe: September 11, 2001 and its Cultural Psychodynamics. Journal for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society, 8(2): 187–199. White, J. (2010). Terrorism and Homeland Security. London: Cengage Learning Wilkinson, P. (2007). Homeland Security in the UK: Future Preparedness for Terrorist Attack since 9/11. London: Routledge Read More