Research Paper on Department of Homeland Security: Securing Borders, Enhancing Security

Introduction

The primary agency for the security of the borders is the Department of Homeland security (DHS). Most of the 22 agencies' personnel and offices got transferred to the newly created Department of Homeland Security by the Department of Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Lake 11). There were four primary directorates within the DHS: Emergency Preparedness and Response, Border and Transport Security, Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection, and Science and Technology. The functional responsibility of Border Security is most vivid at the point where people and goods are expected to cross borders. The responsibility of border and transportation security is primarily located within the Directorate of Border and Transportation Security (BTS).

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Generally, good border management aims to create a balance between the competing and not conflicting goals of facilitating the access of good people and the goods that the country desire and need; and stopping and preventing bad things and bad people from entering the country. Border management is said to be successful if it can successfully and accurately identify cargo and passengers termed as high-risk, target them to take them through inspection, and prevent dangerous goods and passengers from entering the country without approaching the flow of appropriate cross-border traffic. Border enforcement inspector or agent is more specifically ultimately engaged in identifying and verifying those coming into the country. The process entails the determination of the identity of cargo and persons entering the country, how legitimate their request to enter the country is. Many debates have been seen on how best this can be done. Currently, there is a complex process for the entry processing procedures both for cargo and people, with numerous steps involved with each step presenting both an opportunity for interception and interference.

There is a connection between the border and transportation security because many models of transportation and travelers always seek access through the border exit and entry points (Purpura 71). Transportation systems government agencies and travelers have to comply with certain legal requirements to increase safety and security within borders and along the borders. There is complexity in the legal issues given the fact that the U.S. borders share a 5525 mile with Canada, 95,000-mile of navigable waterways and shoreline, and a 1989-mile border with Mexico (Bragdon 121). All goods and people that enter into the U.S. have to be processed using a land air or seaport point of entry. Every year, there are hundreds of millions of people who enter into the united states, millions of them being noncitizens. Besides, there are many people who illegally enter the United States every year, and if spotted, get processed through various government agencies.

The U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology are one of the major border security initiatives by the Department of Homeland Security. The system entails the integration of data on exit and entry if certain foreigners out of and into the U.S. It begins overseas and continues through the arrival by a visitor or their departure from the United States. One of the primary involvement of the program is the determination of entrance eligibility by the Departments of Homeland Security and State (Purpura 65). Biometric technology is at the core of this system where a photograph and digital fingerprints are used, and the development of documents that is resistant to tampering, and which are readable at the ports of entry like the airport. Another requirement for this system is that the system can interface with the database of law enforcement to make it easy to identify and detaining individuals posing a threat to national security. The multibillion-dollar project has the ultimate goal of checking all people entering and leaving the united states.

Future Trends for Airport Security

In the future of airport security, there will be an integration of biometrics across all airports touchpoints. As airports look to increase security and throughputs, as well as streamlining passengers' journeys, there will be a rise in investment in biometrics technology. Biometric is the only answer to security concerns in the airports since tickets can be falsified and swapped, making the fallible (Bragdon 84). One case of when a passenger managed to access a Delta Flight without an I.D. or boarding pass is a clear indication of the challenges facing airport security (Murdock 1). Another future security mitigation is the use of technology through behavioral analytics to learn what normal behavior is. From this, the systems will know what normal behavior is, and anything appears to be an abnormal behavior will be considered as a threat.

Significant of the Topic to Homeland Security

Airports act as the backbone of the travel industry, especially where people move from one country to another. The fact that air transport is the widely use form of transport, it, therefore, becomes a major area of concern for Homeland security to ensure there is safety at the airports. Airports are a gateway to the world, and each day, they handle a million passengers around the globe. However, airports do not have immunity to disruption, and just like the rest of other travel industry, they are under pressure due to the industry landscape that is changing rapidly (Randol 261). Airport security is also a major concern to Homeland Security since most airports tend to reinforce security measures only in areas that have seen a threat before. They find it quite difficult to spend money on something that has not yet happened.

Works Cited

Bragdon, Clifford. Transportation security. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2011. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=BagR-hUNmuoC&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Bragdon,+Clifford.+Transportation+security.+Butterworth-Heinemann,+2011.&ots=B07dC1rW4O&sig=qGAODhYlSefVVwjw36Lp4dRH2NQ

Lake, Jennifer E. "Border and transportation security: overview of congressional issues." Library of Congress Washington Dc Congressional Research Service, 2004. Retrieved from www.hsdl.org/?view&did=450706

Murdock, Jason. "Mystery Atlanta Woman Sneaks onto Delta Flight Sparking Evacuation in Major Security Breach in Florida." Newsweek. Retrieved from https://www.newsweek.com/delta-plane-florida-atlanta-delayed-woman-without-ticket-sparks-evacuation-investigation-1463423

Purpura Philip P. "Border and Transportation Security: Critical Infrastructure Protection and Cybersecurity." Security and Loss Prevention (Seventh Edition), 2019. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/computer-science/transportation-security

Randol, Mark A. Department of homeland security intelligence enterprise: Operational overview and oversight challenges for congress. DIANE Publishing, 2010. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=RYFVXzq4QC4C&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=transportation+and+border+security,+homeland+security&ots=zhHuDGtD-7&sig=UssAzofIemWItyHsg7mkpXlK3hs