The Department of the US Homeland Security - Research Paper Example

Public and Private Plan Paper Total Number of Words 586 Introduction Since the September 11 terrorist attack in the U.S., the Department of Homeland Security was created and has been challenged in terms of finding ways to strengthen its local and state security against terrorism (The National Strategy for the Physical Protection of Critical Infrastructure and Key Assets, 2003, p. 2). Aiming to protect public and private infrastructure from being attacked by terrorists, the concept of National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) together with its 18 supporting Sector-Specific Plans (SSPs) were publicly introduced in order to enable us to prevent, protect, and be prepared against any forms of terrorist attack on public and private infrastructure (Chertoff, 2009). In general, a country with a publicly or privately owned critical infrastructure and key resources (CIKR) can be a possible target for a terrorist attack. In this report, common factors that make the local enforcement group unable to protect the people and infrastructure facilities will be provided. As the homeland security director in the United States, a list of recommended ways that will enable private and public stakeholders be prepared for, respond to, and recover from a possible terrorist attack on technological infrastructure facility will be tackled in details. Factors that Make the Local Enforcement Group Unable to Protect the People and Infrastructure Facilities from Terrorist Attacks Terrorism is defined as “political violence in an asymmetrical conflict designed to induce terror and psychic fear through violent victimization and destruction of non-combatant targets” (Bockstette, 2008). Since the terrorists are unable to kill their target political and military figures, terrorists usually end up attacking and killing the civilians or cause physical harm to public and private CIKR as a way of capturing the attention of the government. Basically, increasing the fear of the general public could force the government to compromise with what the terrorists demanded (Pfaff, 2002). Despite the past effort to protect the public and private CIKR, the lack of universal plan makes the implementation of NIPP ineffective in most cases. Likewise, the lack of coordination among the shareholders including the Federal government, independent regulatory agencies, the legislative, executive and judicial branches contributes to the development of a weak guidelines and recommendations that could be useful in ensuring a successful implementation of the NIPP (Chertoff, 2009, p. 9). Strategies that will Enable Private and Public Stakeholders be Prepared for, Respond to, and Recover from a Possible Terrorist Attack on Infrastructure Facility The United States’ technological infrastructure serves as a backbone behind the progress of the country’s national security, economic and social activities. To ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of electronic information free from unauthorized use of terrorist attackers, the NIPP was developed to allow the public and government entities to “build a safer, more secure, and more resilient America by preventing, deterring, neutralizing, or mitigating the effects of deliberate efforts by terrorists to destroy, incapacitate, or exploit elements of our Nation’s CIKR and to strengthen the national preparedness, timely response, and rapid recovery of CIKR in the event of an attack, natural disaster, or other emergency” (Chertoff, 2009, p. 1). Develop, Strengthen the Implementation, and Teach the Public about the Purpose of NIPP Considering that the NIPP was designed to minimize the risk of terrorist attack on CIKR assets, system network, functions, and its internet connection links, it is necessary for the Homeland Security to teach the general public on how one can make use of NIPP to protect the nation’s CIKR. By encouraging the public and private infrastructure owners and operators to join the NIPP partnership, development of the existing plans for risk management together with a list of emergency responses in the NIPP framework can be strengthened (Chertoff, 2009, p. 9). Developing and strengthening the implementation of the NIPP is not enough in terms of protecting the nation’s CIKR. To maximize the protection our nation can get out of the NIPP framework, the stakeholders including the public and private owners of CIKR should develop a strong partnership with international community aside from exerting effort to fully understand the how the CIKR assets, systems, networks, and facilities can be attacked by terrorists (Chertoff, 2009, p. 10, 13). To enable the stakeholders have a better idea on how to counteract threats and other related hazards to the nation’s CIKR, the stakeholders should develop information-sharing processes and protocols for real-time threats, incident report and warnings which will be considered confidential among the CIKR partners (Chertoff, 2009, p. 13). It is also necessary to analyze, store, and share risk assessment information in a secured process that is consistent with the law and responsibilities behind information protection (ibid). Control over the Media For many years, the close relationship between terrorism and the media has been considered as an effective force multiplier for terrorists (Kachan, 2009). Since the use of the media enables the terrorists to capture the attention of its target viewers, some terrorists are trying to manipulate the media as a way of getting their message either within a geographic region, a society, a country or all over the world. Aiming to reach a short- and mid-term political goal(s), the media is considered as a force multiplier for terrorism (Bockstette, 2008). Allowing the stakeholders to have an access to strong information-sharing networks which includes intelligence and threat analysis, and real-time incident report is useful in terms of enabling the private and public stakeholders to be prepared for, respond to, and recover from a possible terrorist attack on the available infrastructure facility (Chertoff, 2009, p. 9). However, terrorists can learn about the ways on how the State government is trying to protect its CIKR from possible terrorist attacks through the media. To maximize the benefit of using the media, the Homeland Security should warn the public to limit the use of the media when it comes to coordinating the CIKR risk management plans and programs that will be used in addressing possible threats and hazards. Encourage the Stakeholders including the Public and Private Owners of CIKR to Participate in the Development of Policy, Threat and Risk Analysis The Federal Government together with the public and private owners of CIKR have similar concerns with regards to terrorist attacks on infrastructure. In line with this, encouraging each group to participate in the development of policy, threat and risk analysis is more advantageous in terms of strengthening the NIPP framework (Chertoff, 2009, p. 10). Through the process of going through information sharing, it would be easier for each of the stakeholders to identify and address possible loopholes which could provide the terrorist attackers the opportunity to invade and destroy the nation’s existing infrastructure. Aside from strengthening the development of NIPP framework and regulation, encouraging the stakeholders and owners of CIKR to collaborate and share their knowledge on how the nation can protect its CIKR from terrorist attackers could increase the preparedness of each group in terms of addressing similar problems that could arise in the future. As part of getting the nation to be prepared in responding to potential attack on public and private infrastructure, it is necessary for the Federal government to identify and recognize private companies that are capable of extending technical support incentives which aims to protect and restore CIKR (Chertoff, 2009, p. 10). By gathering the stakeholders including the public and private owners of CIKR to actively participate in the brainstorming process, the need to make use of the media would be lessen. Therefore, there would be a lesser chance wherein the terrorist attackers would gain information with regards to ways on how the nation is planning to protect its CIKR from possible future attack. Other Recommendations Other suggested recommendations include: (1) the promotion of intelligence-led policing; (2) community policing over the use of CIKR; (3) developing a good partnership role with the private business sector; and (4) investing on the re-development and deployment of new technologies that are capable of increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of CIKR protection (Chertoff, 2009, p. 14; Safe Cities Project 2006, pp. 3 – 5). Conclusion Given that the United States is very much dependent on the use of technology infrastructure in government and business activities, the United States’ public and private CIKR is at risk of terrorist attacks. To protect the nation’s CIKR from terrorist attacks, the need to strengthen the development and implementation of the NIPP framework is necessary. To ensure that the country’s CIKR is protected from terrorist attacks, it is important to encourage each of the stakeholders to actively participate in the development and implementation of the NIPP framework. Aside from developing a strong partnership with the international community, the stakeholders should be trained to have a better understanding on how the CIKR assets, systems, networks, and facilities can be attacked by the terrorists. Through brainstorming, the stakeholders can easily come up with more concrete solutions on how they can protect the nation’s CIKR. As part of empowering the stakeholders to immediately act upon and respond to terrorist attacks on CIKR, the stakeholders should develop a strong information-sharing network and protocols that could determine real-time threats. Establishing immediate incident report could allow the Homeland Security department to immediately warn the public about the incident and call upon the government’s recognized companies that could extend help in restoring the nation’s CIKR. By all means, terrorist attackers will gather all information they could obtain to enable them to easily target the nation’s CIKR. For this reason, there is a strong need for the Federal government to have a strong control over the media. Doing so will avoid leaking sensitive strategic information to terrorist attackers. *** End *** References Bockstette, C. (2008, December). Retrieved July 12, 2010, from Geprge C. Marshall: European Center for Securitiy Studies. Jihadist Terrorist Use of strategic Communication Management Techniques. No. 20. ISSN 1863-6039: http://www.marshallcenter.org/site-graphic/lang-de/page-pubs-index-1/static/xdocs/research/static/occpapers/occ-paper_20-en.pdf Chertoff, M. (2009). National Infrastructure Protection Plan: Partnering to enhance protection and resiliency. Homeland Security. Kachan, L. (2009). Retrieved July 12, 2010, from The Media in Terror Analysing Reportage from Theatres of Conflict: http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/publication/faultlines/volume8/Article2.htm Pfaff, W. (2002, January 10). International Herald Tribune. Retrieved July 12, 2010, from The Politics of Terrorism, or Civilians vs. Civilians: http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0110-03.htm Safe Cities Project. (2006, January). Retrieved July 12, 2010, from HARD WON LESSONS: THE NEW PARADIGM—MERGING LAW ENFORCEMENT AND COUNTERTERRORISM STRATEGIES: http://www.manhattan-institute.org/pdf/scr_04.pdf The National Strategy for the Physical Protection of Critical Infrastructure and Key Assets. (2003). The White House Washington. Read More