Homeland Security - American citizen`s freedom at risk - Essay Example

Homeland security- American citizen’s freedom at risk Homeland security is a broad term that encompasses all national security efforts to counter terrorism that protect American citizens, nationals and residents from terrorist attacks. It helps to strengthen the American defense system in such a way that its vulnerability to possible terrorist activity is narrowed down to zilch while simultaneously preserving the freedom of American citizens. The effectiveness of the American Homeland security system is only possible if it is led by a combined effort of government agencies, entities and not to forget the loyal American citizens as well. Homeland Security Act 2002: American citizens saw the aftermath of the drastic events that occurred after the unfortunate incident of September 11 2001. These events resulted in the enactment of the famous Homeland Security Act (HSA) in the year 2002. The act had the privilege of being cosponsored by 118 officials of the Congress and was subsequently signed in to the United States Law by President George W. Bush in November 2002. Homeland security act resulted in the formation of both the United States Department of Homeland Security and also the Secretary of Homeland Security. HSA is also responsible for the establishment for the Directorate for Information Analysis, Infrastructure Protection and subsequent enactment of the Critical Infrastructure Information Act of 2002 and the Cyber Security Enhancement Act of 2002 both of which play a vital role in protecting America from terrorism including cyber terrorism. (Haugen 2007.) HSA is by far the largest federal government reorganization since the enactment of National Security Act of 1947 which was followed by the creation of the Department of Defense. The new homeland security department capacitates larger number of services including the Custom Service, Coast guard and also the famous U.S. Secret Service. The homeland security department was first funded by the Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2004 (Homeland Security Act of 2002). Role of National Guards in Homeland Security: National Guard of the U.S. is a 374 year old component of the Armed Forces of the United States and therefore it is the oldest enduring institutions of the U.S. History: The history of the National Guard can be traced back to the time of the early English colonies in Northern America, who were responsible for their own protection. By following the English military tradition, the colonists trained potential male citizens and organized them into militias. These trained militias were entrusted with the responsibility of defending their fellow colonist citizens from Indian, and other foreign invaders. After independence, the constitution empowered the Congress with the right of training and organizing militias, however keeping in view the important role of militias in the independent America, the responsibility of appointing and training the militias was then reserved to the state. Members of the militia are American citizen soldiers which points out to the fact that these militias work part time for the National Guard of the United States of America and also employed by the civilian sector. After World War II, National Guard aviation units were transformed into the Air National Guard which became America’s newest reserve component. During the cold war, the National Guard protected the frontiers of freedom. During the Berlin crisis of 1961 militias were dispatched to reinforce NATO. Around 8,700 militias were deployed to Vietnam during the Vietnam War and more than 75,000 were deployed to bring a speedy end to the Desert Storm of 1991(The National Guardsman 1877). National Guard has a constitutional basis: Constitution of the U.S. authorizes the National Guard and distinguishes the militias from American troops. Illegal immigration and Homeland Security: An individual qualifies as an illegal immigrant if he or she fits in one of the three categories: I. The individual entered the U.S. territory without prior authorization and inspection. II. The individual stayed beyond the period specified by the American government after a legal and authorized entry into the U.S. III. The individual in any way violated the requirements of a legal entry. Illegal immigration is critically related to the concept of American homeland security. American government needs to emphasize more on strengthening its territorial boundaries because even today the number of illegal immigrants greatly exceeds the number of legal immigrants and what’s more horrifying is the fact that the American security system has failed to decrease the rate of illegal immigrants since the late 1990s. The challenges faced by the American government in aligning its territorial boundary forces into a strong impenetrable network are huge but not at all insurmountable. The consequences of not strengthening the borders are immensely drastic, because as the illegal immigrants continue to flood America, the possibilities of future terrorist attacks within America continue to rise. To this day, America has continued to solidify its emergency response mechanisms including military response, medical response and even the transportation emergency response. However, it is more important to eliminate the root cause of terrorism rather than focusing on just being able to effectively handle the aftermaths of such unfortunate events. It is estimated that an excruciating amount of 13.9 million illegal immigrants are currently residing and working across America. These illegal immigrants are thought to work in various sectors across the U.S. including agriculture, service industries, and construction companies and even in transportation business. Apart from people who illegally cross the U.S. territories, a large of people are classified as illegal immigrants once they stay beyond the period allowed by the American government. The ultimate goal of the American security and defense system is to eliminate both aspects conforming to illegal immigration including keeping a check and tracing legal immigrants whose visa deadlines are approaching and also trying to reduce the number of people who illegally cross U.S. borders on a daily basis. The American security should deploy more forces to the borders and enact rigorous provisions regarding border security and authorization procedures. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection needs to strengthen more to cope with the increasing number of illegal immigrants. (Haines & Rosenblum 1999) Emergency Response: Recently the world saw that the ultimate goal of Mumbai terrorist attacks was to create an initial confusion and chaos to obtain tactical advantages. Terrorist threats and activities are magnified when the security responders are not trained to handle the chaos and confront these attacks with greater efficiency and precision. Some recommendations to strengthen the emergency Response system are: 1. Command and control systems should be unified and common operating protocols must be the foremost priority of emergency responders. 2. Only hard trained officials should be classified as emergency responders. 3. Synergism should be practiced between different security departments. (Long 2006) References: Homeland Security Act of 2002: Hearing and Markup before the Committee on International Relations, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, Second Session, Including Markup of H.r. 5005, June 26 and July 10, 2002. Washington: For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O. Congressional Sales Office, 2002. The National Guardsman: A Journal Devoted to the Interests of the National Guard of the U.s. New York, 1877. Print. Haugen, David M. National Security. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2007. Print. Haines, David W, and Karen E. Rosenblum. Illegal Immigration in America: A Reference Handbook. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 1999. Print. Long, Jane S. Field Guide to Emergency Response. Washington, D.C.?: Heritage Preservation, 2006. Print. Read More