10.8 Homeland Security
Brandon Hamann
After 9/11, it became clear that the United States Intelligence apparatus was extremely dysfunctional. Many agencies were investigating aspects of domestic terrorism, border protection, immigration, cybercrime, transnational crimes, human trafficking, drug trafficking, fraud, counterfeiting, and many other threats to National Security, but they weren’t communicating with each other. There were so many different federal departments with overlapping responsibilities that it was becoming difficult to determine who was in charge of doing what. That changed in 2002 with the passing of the Homeland Security Act, which established the Office of Homeland Security. This department took the task of combining 22 autonomous federal agencies and combined them into one singular entity to streamline and coordinate a national strategy to secure the United States against a terrorist attack. Some of the agencies under the Homeland umbrella include
- United States Customs Service
- Immigration and Naturalization Service
- Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
- Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
- United States Coast Guard (USCG)
- United States Secret Service
Responsibilities of Homeland Security
With that many agencies under its wing, it’s quite easy to get confused as to the role the department plays in the overall function of securing the nation. Some of the jobs that are tasked to Homeland Security include the following:
- Cyber security and infrastructure
- Immigration and border protection
- Drug and human trafficking Investigations
- Money laundering and currency counterfeiting
- Disaster management
- Transportation security (airports, railways, ship docks, etc.)
- Animal and Plant Health Inspections
More recently, as of 2021, a new area of concern has arisen in the fight against Terrorism within the borders of the United States: white supremacy and extremist actions. The Department of Homeland Security under the Biden Administration has been tasked with investigating this new threat.
Immigration and Border Protection
If you have been paying attention to history at all, you’ll realize that the United States of America is a country built on immigration. Save for the indigenous peoples that were here prior to colonization by the Europeans, the vast majority of those who call themselves “Americans” can trace their ancestry to somewhere other than here. Regardless of that fact, the issue of immigration today is still a hotly debated topic of discussion as it has always been since the first settlers stepped foot on the shores of this country seeking a better life for themselves and their loved ones.
But we also have to be mindful that while there are those who are seeking refuge and a chance to have a better life for their loved ones than the one they have in their native countries, the United States has laws that must be followed in order to secure those rights and privileges to become a citizen. With threats