Analyzing the Most Important Threat to the Public Sector and Its Implication on National Security - Assignment Example

Political science assignment al Affiliation) Question Analyzing the most important threat to the public sector and its implication on national security The public sector in the United States is facing a lot of emergent threats that include terrorism, biological weapons, nukes, cyber-attacks, transnational crime and bio threats. Terrorists have continued to utilize various means to target civilian in the United States. Some of the successful terrorist attack includes the September 11 and the Boston marathon bombing. Threats have biological weapons being used by the authority targeting civilians has been witnessed in countries such as Syria. Such weapons can therefore be utilized by terrorists targeting the public. America is at war with an intention of stopping terrorist attacks towards civilians throughout the world. As the country continue to fight acts of terrorism, its citizens are becoming a target of retaliatory attacks from various terrorism organization1. The government should therefore come up with initiatives to counter or prevent deadly viruses from being utilized to attack citizens. These can be done by ensuring accurate and timely insights on potential attacks are obtained before the launch of the attack. Another threat to the public sector is the threat of nuclear war. Some countries in the world which are enemies to the United States and its friends have threatened to attack by utilizing nuclear weapon. One of these countries is North Korea. Nuclear attack is extremely dangerous and can result to loss of property and lives of the American people. Black market trade of nuclear materials is a threat to the United States security department. The prospect that such nuclear devices may be acquired by al-Qaeda and other terrorist organization represent an extreme or immediate threat to global security2. Lack of high-tech sensors has made it difficult to intercept or track nuclear material while on transit. The department of homeland security should put effective measures in place to help detect radioactive-materials that is being sneaked into the country. The country should also partner with other countries in the globe to prevent development of nuclear weapons by countries such as Iran and North Korea that have continued to cause panic among millions of people around the world. Network intrusion and cyber attack is another threat to the public sector that should is of concern. It is viewed as a potential public safety, economic and national security challenges3. Technology has been considered as a double edged sword that instead of empowering and resulting to development throughout the world, it has also been utilized by organized criminal groups, hackers and other terrorist organizations and nation states that can disrupt vital infrastructures causing destruction of properties and loss of lives. The other threat to the public sector is transnational crime. United states law enforcement agencies and defense department identifies transnational criminal network as a threat to the public and national security. Such groups often subvert government institutions and cause instability through corruption and attacks4. Transnational criminal groups have acquired unprecedented power and wealth through arms smuggling, drug trade, illicit activities and human trafficking. They have also extended their territories through partnership with government officials and terrorist organizations. Transnational crime is a crime to national security as it targets the citizens of the country and should be prevented at all costs. The last threat to the public sector is communicable diseases. Public health department has a mandate of ensuring that the public is protected from the arrival and spread of communicable diseases. Public health department lacks effective equipments that can be utilized in tracking the spread of diseases from other countries in the world to the United States of America. Last year, an individual who had contracted Ebola virus from Africa was able to enter the United States without being detected until the symptoms were detected. The country should therefore put effective measures in place to help detect any communicable diseases from individual travelling from high risk countries5. Bio-threat is a threat to national security since malicious groups may decide to use the opportunity to sneak deadly virus into the country with an intention of attacking the public leading to loss of lives. Question 2 Analyzing the most vital threat to the private sector and its implication to national security One of the most current threats to the private sector in the United States of America is cyber security. Private sectors are part of the US economy that is mostly run by groups and individuals. Cyber threat towards the private sectors threats are often orchestrated by criminally and politically motivated actors as per the research conducted by the national intelligence department. Cyber threats to the United States economic and national security has been increasing in sophistication, scale, frequency and severity of impact. Cyber attacks that are politically motivated are now a growing reality with foreign actors developing and reconnoitering access to the United States critical infrastructure systems6. The fight for the future has continued to create daily headlines. Its battles are not between security agents of various states in the world, nor are its weapons the expensive tanks, fleets of regular armed forces or military planes. Rather the combatants emerge from terrorists groups such as al-Qaeda, drug smuggling cartels such those in Mexico and Colombia as well as military anarchists such as the black Bloc. Other protagonists include activists that are affiliated to the civil societies fighting for human rights and democracy. All these groups often operates in dispersed and small units that can be deployed anywhere at any particular moment. Information security is impacting on all sectors of the economy and more so the public. Various organizations are able to access information about their targets and can launch attacks anytime that they are ready. The scope, novelty scale and complexity of cyber threat demand an application of all the instruments of national power if the country has to respond more effectively to such threats7. The United States national security prowess and war-fighting have relied more on remoteness and power of its industrial base, overwhelming logistic power and secure internal lines of communication. Currently, the convergence of communication and computer technologies has brought various regions in the country into cyber domain with everything connected at the speed of light. One of the ways in which cyber war is considered a threat to the private sector is as a result of its impact on the supply chain. A supply chain can be defined as a system of organizations, processes, people, resources, information and technology. It’s often organized with the need to enable suppliers to convert natural resources and raw materials into finished products. The supply chain in various private sectors in the country is under threat as never before. Previously, supply chains were often immune to attacks as a result of most critical processes being internal and not under the influence of foreign threats. The security chain has however been compromised by cyber security threat in the last 25 years8. A global cyber domain has been developed in which the United States communication, control circuit and command are woven with those of foe and friends alike. Through both intergrated and independent cyber attacks as well as other asymmetric means, the United States supply chain may be at risk of vital disruption than at any particular point since the time of civil war. Communication and computer supply chains are one thing that is shared by all the other supply chains in the sector. Almost all the supply chains are dependent on converged communication and computer technologies. In cases where such system in the private sector are compromised, then the supply chain will be compromised leading to destruction of industries and other infrastructures that are vital to the growth of the economy. Since cyber threats are global in scale, global cooperation and global coordination is important. In addition, the government needs to work in collaboration with the private sector for a cyber security response that is more comprehensive. The United States is at war and its critical infrastructure, majority of which belong to the private sector faces danger of destruction as a result of cyber attack. Cyber attacks against financial services, transport systems and utility could be as destructive as the September 11 attacks. The government should therefore strengthen its offensive and defensive cyber attacks through support from the private sector9. Bibliography Arquilla, John, and David Ronfeldt. Transnational criminal networks, Networks and netwars: The future of terror, crime, and militancy. Rand Corporation, 2001. Carter, Jeremy G. "Structure and Function of Public-Private Partnerships for Homeland Security, The." Homeland Security Rev. 2 (2008): 235. Clarke, Richard A. and Robert K. Knake. Cyberwar: The next threat to National Security and what to do about it. New York: HaperCollins> 2010. Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. The U.S. Government and Global Emerging Infectious Disease Preparedness and Response. (2014), December 8. Hough, Peter. Understanding global security. Routledge. 2014 Rotberg, Robert I., Ed. When states fail: causes and consequences. Princeton University Press. 2010. Read More