2002 Homeland Security Act Essay Example

Introduction

The US has grappled with multiple security threats and there has been various policy development to enhance internal and external security. In the year 2001, there was a terrorist attack on September 11 which caused a profound implication on security mishap and created a military and political response globally (Miller, 2003). These occurrences marked the beginning of a comprehensive reformation and transformation of the relevant regulations, institutions, and other legislation which are connected to homeland security. During this period, the Bush administration embarked on a participatory approach which engaged pertinent stakeholders to achieve security improvement. The 2002 - Homeland Security Act was enacted in November after it was implicated with controversial politics and it also facilitated the creation of the new department in the Homeland Security (Scardaville, 2002).

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Efforts to Enhance Homeland Security - Main Tasks through DHS

Prevention of Terrorist Activities within the US

Establishing an easy solution to terrorism is quite a hard initiative. The DHS department was set to stipulate extraordinary steps to address this menace. The act provides a direction for the DHS to comply with federal laws in offering protection to the whistleblowers as well as equal employment chances (Flynn, 2006). Tentatively, it authorizes the Secretary to create a joint task force detailing representative of the federal agencies and military to avert terrorist activities within the US.

The act offers amends options for the federal rules of criminal procedures to allow the revelation of grand jury details to relevant stakeholders such as federal and foreign government to avert and offer quick rejoinders to terrorist threats and intelligence collection actions ("Homeland Security Act of 2002", 2002). Additionally, it facilitates to amend the federal transportation law to necessitate the Under Secretary of Transportation for Security to create an initiative to offer voluntary deputy to the pilots for them to have firearms or some other weapons which are against criminal activities as well as training for the crew (Flynn, 2006).

Reducing Vulnerability to Terrorism

The strategy focuses on enhancing the intelligence of the community to build on its capacity to acquire intelligence which is required for homeland security. The cat helps to tackle the threats through the provision of guidelines to assist in real-time pragmatic details to US vulnerability which help lawmakers and other enforcement interventions (LaCrosse, 2005). The department can, therefore, conduct regular vulnerability assessments and disseminate the information which is relevant to terrorism threats.

The act has established various organizations such as the US Coast Guard, the Emergency Management and others which server to respond to threats. Protection of possible terror attacks targets the regions which are susceptible to acts of terrorism. However, it is imperative to note that any region can be prone to terrorist attacks within the US. One of the memorable terrorist activities was the destruction of the federal office structure in Oklahoma. As such, there was no apparent and clear reason why the terrorists would have targeted that building. However, it is evident that in a country where there are limited resources and possibly inestimable targets and coercion, it is not a possibility to offer protection for everything.

When the threats remain consistently high, it is essential to develop strategies to reduce the vulnerability since its effects can have very devastating implications. For instance, it could point to the restructuring of buildings to limit options to use biological and chemical attacks. The concern for the vulnerability could also have an effect on how cities are constructed in the future. The immediate action is to protect what is possible today since protection cannot be offered for every detail on the US soil through advanced preparations.

Protecting Critical Infrastructure

The approach selected by the Bush Administration emphasized on the protection of vital infrastructure. These regions were provided for in the National Strategy for Homeland Defense and they were inclusive of but not limited to, extensive sectors of the economy such as water, finance, energy, chemical industries, information (LaCrosse, 2005). Some of these areas have attracted quite heated debates for various reasons.

The Bush administration also focused on cyberterrorism on the basis that a successful one can affect multiple sectors. The challenge was to determine how vulnerable a sector is to opt for prioritizing some issues and this debate yielded more concerns such as how an attack may last or what magnitude.

The Act also Served to Facilitate Lessening the Harm from an Attack

The act gives the department the authority to act in liaison with other agencies to pull resources together in the move to prepare for emergencies. The emergency personnel can respond to the act of terrorism and provide valuable support towards reducing the damage caused by the attack. Some actions are inclusive of but not limited to relevant training, delivery of specialized materials and equipment.

Through the public health system, detection of containment of consequences of biochemical attacks is vital ("Homeland Security Act of 2002", 2002). This administration emphasized the importance of educating the public through advanced preparations for measures that can be implemented to respond proactively to any form of threats. The Federal Emergency Management Agency conducts its mission of reducing the loss of property and lives and safeguard the country from harm via the supportive risk-oriented emergency management initiative.

Information Sharing

The homeland security act of 2002 enhances the harmonization of homeland security correspondence with the other bodies such as the local government, private segment and the public which is a fundamental task for DHS. The legislation provided for Homeland Security Information Network which was a framework to conduct this activity. Comprehensive sharing of information and its management remained a significant setback for DHS.

Accordingly, the DHS when it was established did not clearly stipulate the HSIN's connections to the ongoing coordination systems. Besides, the users were not fully involved in preparation for its implementation in the Bush administration. Users were not offered with comprehensive training on information dissemination and materials to refer. The act did not have a proper way to track and evaluate information sharing through HSIN since there lacked a solid baseline for measuring performance ("Homeland Security Act of 2002", 2002). It was established that it was not meeting the required needs as well as its support for counter-terrorism was not in check. As such, users opted for other means to disseminate information which only contributed to the ad hoc approach which the body was established to solve. The legislative challenge was quite extensive as it was a major hindrance to the success of HSIN though other obstacles also included limited resources and privacy issues.

The act faced a challenge of lack of a proper framework for integrating data mining into the general approach to information sharing to facilitate detection, prevention, and recovery when terrorist attack. Data mining is a great course which assists the analysts, investigators in the establishment of patterns and links from large databases. Notably, the homeland security act provided for the DHS to utilize data mining and other mechanisms to contact, acquire and scrutinize data (Scardaville, 2002). For quite a long time, there were loopholes in the activities that utilized an inadequate data mining element. Therefore, without interdepartmental arrangements, synchronization, and direction, the prospects for attaining an integrated advanced data mining feature and capacity to tackle homeland security matters continue to be unexploited.

The act directs the department to utilize an extensive range of legislative, political, traditional and procedural issues as it conducts an implementation of integrated sources of government information and disseminate the same to the relevant authorities.

Conclusion

Summarily, the essence of the homeland security act was to majorly avert, protect and over a responsive approach to help minimize terror attacks and its repercussions. The procedure was to present a guideline through which terrorist attacks can be prevented. It was also recommendable that the probable terrorist attack targets were not ignored as they were susceptible to attacks and that protection was a viable option. In the situations where prevention would fail, then comprehensive and proactive approaches to respond and lessen the damage were established through various vital organizations under the Department of Homeland Security. The idea of management of consequences was that all property and lives cannot be fully protected and quick, effective responses can minimize the negative significances in multiple conceivable situations. Tentatively, the Bush administration sought to eliminate terrorism and to avert the adverse impacts of these attacks. From these initiatives, there have been various amendments to the act and other policy developments to help in its reformation and to build consistent and successful regulations.

References

Flynn, J. (2006). Homeland Security Law and Policy. Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, 3(2), 21-22. doi:10.2202/1547-7355.1218.

Homeland Security Act of 2002. (2002). Retrieved from https://www.dhs.gov/homeland-security-act-2002.

LaCrosse, T. (2005). Homeland Security and Homeland Defense: America's New Paradigm. Connections: The Quarterly Journal, 04(3), 3-16. doi:10.11610/connections.04.3.02.

Miller, S. (2003). After the 9/11 disaster: Washington's Struggle to Improve Homeland Security. Retrieved from https://www.belfercenter.org/publication/after-911-disaster-washingtons-struggle-improve-homeland-security.

Scardaville, M. (2002). The Homeland Security Act of 2002: An analysis. Retrieved from https://www.heritage.org/homeland-security/report/the-homeland-security-act-2002-analysis.