U.S. Homeland Security and the Business, Government and Society - Essay Example

Thus the phrase- “Homeland security”; this phrase may appear relatively new but was actually coined after a series of attacks against US and its nationals around the world during 1980s and 1990s. The U.S. military now defines homeland security as "the preparation for, prevention of, deterrence of preemption of, defense against, and response to threats and aggressions directed toward U.S. territory, sovereignty, domestic population and infrastructure; as well as crisis management, consequence management, and other domestic civil support." (1) The definition has two important constituents namely homeland defense and civil support.

Homeland defense is seen as the "protection of U.S. territory, sovereignty, domestic population, and critical infrastructure against external threats and aggression," whereas while civil support is described as "support to U.S. civil authorities for domestic emergencies, and for designated law enforcement and other activities." (2) During the Clinton administration, homeland security was an important but passively discussed issue. By the time Clinton’s term ended, the notion of homeland security revolves around "national missile defense, counterterrorism, WMD preparedness, consequence management of WMD events and protection against cyber attacks." (3) The three main components of any counterterrorism strategy would thus form the basis for the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.

These components were later clearly identified by President Bushs National Strategy for Homeland Security as "1) prevent terrorist attacks within the United States; 2) reduce Americas vulnerability to terrorism; and 3) minimize the damage and recover from attacks that do occur." (4) If Clinton administration had basically been passive about national security, then Bush administration did nothing concrete either in the first few months of entering