PART I:
Chapter 3, page 149, Review Question 1: “What is the principle role of emergency management
in homeland security? Identify the other major players and their roles in homeland security.”
(Bullock, Haddow, Coppola, & Yeletaysi, 2009)
I randomly asked ten people if there was a difference between homeland security and emergency
management. The answer did not surprise me. Out of the ten people who were interviewed, sixty
percent stated that homeland security and emergency management was the same thing. Out of
the ten people interviewed, only 10 percent knew emergency management mission. Granted, this
was a very small sampling of people, only ten verse thousands, but it creates a point that cannot
be ignored. How can emergency management be effective is no one knows what the mission
accomplishes.
Emergency managements primary role is “not to stop the terrorists, but to reduce the future loss
of life, injuries, property damage, and economic disruption” (Bullock, Haddow, Coppola, &
Yeletaysi, 2009) of major events. Emergency management has been established to deal with the
resulting actions of terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and catastrophic events. It was not
established to deal with terrorist themselves. (Bullock, Haddow, Coppola, & Yeletaysi, 2009).
Essential emergency management requires the effective use of risk analysis and implementing
policies, procedures, and safeguards that will secure targets. This includes physical hardening of
targets, educating the public, and to respond effectively in the event of a major event (Bullock,
Haddow, Coppola, & Yeletaysi, 2009). Risk management is the primary tool for emergency
management. A good risk management program includes four basic steps. These steps are: “1.)
Identify risks or specific vulnerabilities, 2) Analyze and study risks, including the likelihood and
degree of danger of an event, 3) Optimize risk management alternatives (ex. Risk avoidance, risk
reduction, risk spreading), and 4) Study security programs (every day monitoring of your
security programs). (Fischer, Halibozek, & Green, 2008). Risk management can help mitigate
the potential for terrorist attacks by sampling applying these steps without taking shortcuts. By
using risk analysis and implementing policies, procedures, and security devices, a facility’s
potential for attack goes down by at least 80% (Garcia, 2008).
While emergency management cannot eliminate all risks because natural and terrorist events will
occur, they provide one piece to the overall homeland security puzzle. There are several other
major players that help complement the homeland security puzzle. Some of these agencies
include the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC), the Transportation Security
Administration (TSA), and the United States Coast Guard.
The FLETC serves as the primary federal law enforcement training provider (Bullock, Haddow,
Coppola, & Yeletaysi, 2009). The FLETC provides multiple levels or training to over 80 federal
agencies and assists several countries in training of personnel. (Bullock, Haddow, Coppola, &
Yeletaysi, 2009). What is ironic is that even thought the FLETC exists, the security field as a
whole cannot decide upon the level of training the public and private security personnel must
receive. Federal and public law enforcement officers typically receive 180 hours or more of
training while the private sector receives typically less than 32 hours of training (Fischer,
Halibozek, & Green, 2008). Because of the lack of set training standards, this creates a large
variation of how security personnel are trained to accomplish their jobs and creates prime
opportunities for terrorists and other adversaries. Even the government seems to agree that law
enforcement training is not that important when they reduced the FLETC budget by one percent
for FY 2009 (Bullock, Haddow, Coppola, & Yeletaysi, 2009).
Another major role player is the TSA. The TSA was created only two months after the
September 11, 2001 attack to protect the nation’s transportation system. The TSA’s primary
focus is on “identifying risks to the transportation sector, prioritizing them, and managing them
to acceptable levels through a variety of means, while working to mitigate the impact of
incidents that may occur” (Bullock, Haddow, Coppola, & Yeletaysi, 2009). Prime examples of
tools that are being used to mitigate incident impacts include full body scanners, chemical
detectors, additional security personnel, and the arming of pilots. The only real problem that
currently exists is that most of TSA seems to be focused on air travel and not other forms of
travel. An adversary will normally pick targets that they have an eighty percent chance of
success to accomplish the mission (Garcia, 2008) (Garcia, 2008). Imagine what would have
happened to the rail industry if the terrorist had used trains verse aircraft in the September 11,
2001 attacks.
I remember a recording a buddy of mine sent to me of a real commercial pilot pre-departure
debrief and it hits the TSA goal right out of the park. The pre-departure briefing proceeded as
normal until the very end. At the end, the pilot went on to explain that the door to the cockpit
was steel reinforced and that he was carrying a15 round Smith and Wesson semi-automatic pistol
and his co-pilot was carrying a six-round .357. He further explained that they were fully trained
to use the weapons and that they were loaded with armor piercing rounds. His final words were
“sit back and enjoy your flight and thank you for flying with us today”.
While not the final agency that is a major role player within homeland security, the United States
Coast Guard plays a very important role. They are one of the few federal services that can
operate within the United States borders. Remember that military services such as Army,
Marines, Air Force, and Navy cannot operate on US soil in certain role because of the
Constitution of the United States. The Coast Guard played a major role in securing the American
ports as the Navy ships departed during the September 11, 2001 attack. Because of the resolve of
the Coast Guard to prove itself as a well-equipped military force working within the jurisdiction
of U.S. territory, their budget were increased greatly (Bullock, Haddow, Coppola, & Yeletaysi,
2009). The Coast Guard stepped in to secure the ports of America. While we have not had any
major terrorist events at ports in recent years, we have had natural disasters that have provided a
future prediction of what might occur during and after a terrorist attack.
Ports along the seaboard are essential for America’s survival. When hurricane Katrina hit and the
barges were held out at sea, America saw the impact. Gas prices went from $2 a gallon to over
$8 a gallon overnight. Even after business started to return to normal, the economy is still
showing the scars from Hurricane Katrina. Watch what happens to gas prices when a tanker has
a spill in the ocean. A recent event that occurred that could have had a major impact on the
American economy and possibly port security was he recent arrest of over 100 individuals that
were planning terrorist attacks against oil lines in Saudi Arabia. One has to wonder if their failed
attempt was a test for something much bigger. As I stated earlier, the TSA and air security is all
that we hear about in the news today. Do you realize that only about twenty percent of containers
shipped to American ports are ever checked (Fischer, Halibozek, & Green, 2008)?
Part II:
List and fully explain “TWO” Introduction to Homeland Security salient points from the
assigned reading chapter. Ensure succinctly state your key / important / significant points
in one sentence at the beginning of your responses. However, fully explain and discuss the
points.
Chapter 3: United States Customs and Border Protection
How effective is U.S. Customs and Border Patrol? This question could be considered is
subjective and hard to answer. According to the government, these agencies are doing a decent
job of protecting our borders. According to public opinion, they are not doing so well.
One must take into account that the U.S Customs and Border Patrol enforce laws and monitor
over 7,500 miles of land borders between ports of entry and 95,000 miles of maritime border
with only a staff of around 55,000 personnel (Bullock, Haddow, Coppola, & Yeletaysi, 2009).
Out of that 55,000, at least twenty-five percent is management and policy positions. The
remainder is the work force. The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol are responsible for monitoring
such tasks as illegal drug entry, stolen goods, contraband, etc. There are not enough personnel to
ensure every incident is checked and verified. They are responsible for the protection of federal
facilities, legal advisor for immigration cases, and detention and removal of illegal citizens.
As you can see the U.S Customs and Border Patrol have a long and extensive list of duties to
perform with limited personnel. Every day within the news we see stories about securing the
borders with fences, extra patrols, biometric scans, etc. This agency has probably the hardest job.
It is their responsibility to keep out the undesirables. They are expected to accomplish this with
minimal training and funding. The job of this agency is the same as the requirements when
designing and rating a physical security system. These task are to detect, deter, and respond to
incidents and react accordingly as the threat is assessed and identified (Garcia, 2008).
Some of the help the U.S. Customs receives that is not highly publicized until something
happens is military support foreign countries. There are military services that fly intelligence
gathering and interdiction for illegal drugs. These same drug operations support many terrorist
agencies in their operations against the United States and other countries. If you remember, I
stated how only about ten percent of shipments to the United States are checked (Fischer,
Halibozek, & Green, 2008). The customs agency is responsible for conducting those checks.
Those same officers are only paid from $6 per hour to $18 per hour depending upon location and
area. How easy is it for someone to turn their head, forget to check a container, or forge a
document for a few hundred dollars? When you put money into the equation, along with political
factors, the U.S. customs and Border Patrols are fighting a losing battle. Here is something to
think about. While there is always talk about locking down American borders with fences,
immigration control, facial recognition, etc., how many airports can you think of that have direct
flight into the United States without seeing a Border Patrol? Dallas International Airport is one.
Chapter 3: Corporation for National and Community Service
Whose job is it to protect America? Is it the government? Is it the Department of Homeland
Security? Is it the American people? The answer is that it is everyone agency, politician, and
American’s job. How does this protection get accomplished? It is through programs that call for
the corporation of national and community services working together to detect, deter, and
respond to situations that are out of the norm.
There are several agencies that are spearheading the effort to get Americans involved.
Americorps addresses the critical needs in education, public safety, health, and the environment
(Bullock, Haddow, Coppola, & Yeletaysi, 2009). Senior Corps uses the experience of the senior
generation to meet community challenges. These include services like Foster Grandparents,
Senior Companions, and Retired and Senior Volunteer Programs (Bullock, Haddow, Coppola, &
Yeletaysi, 2009). Learn and Serve America addresses service level program within schools and
communities concerning improving academic skills and citizenship (Bullock, Haddow, Coppola,
& Yeletaysi, 2009).
What is ironic is that these agencies are practicing security methods that are used to design
secure facilities and creates community awareness. When a security system is designed, its job is
to protect a resource. That resource may be property or people. A good security system has
deterrents in place that attempt to divert actions elsewhere. Using national and community
services are some of those deterrents.
People are the common factor in asset protection (Garcia, 2008). If people feel ownership in a
process, the more likely they will accept the process and keep it enforced. Program such as
Americorp and Learn and Serve America are examples. Other examples include neighborhood
watch programs, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Boy and Girl Scouts of America, etc. When
people get involved with protecting their area and have ownership, events out of the ordinary get
noticed. As an experiment, a Chicago housing project that had a crime rate of 75% was given
support, funding, and ownership into improving their housing. These improvements included:
1.) New lighting,
2.) Extra police patrols,
3.) Neighborhood Watch training,
4.) Landscaping, and
5.) High tech entry control systems.
With support from community agencies and national funding, the crime rate dropped to 10%
within six months and the community was catching almost 85% of abnormal events (Fischer,
Halibozek, & Green, 2008).
If we use the experience of our seniors and instill strong beliefs and morals within the next
generation, America can ensure its security and establish a new mindset that all Americans are
responsible for security of the nation and programs that support the national and local
communities will continue to thrive and grow while accomplishing the mission that has been
directed by the Homeland Security directives while at the same time allowing society to evolve
right alongside the desired goal of Homeland Security and the American dream.
References:
Bullock, J. A., Haddow, G. D., Coppola, D. P., & Yeletaysi, S. (2009). Introduction to Homeland Security
(3rd ed.). Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Fischer, R. J., Halibozek, E., & Green, G. (2008). Introduction to Security (8th Ed.). Burlington, MA:
Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann.
Garcia, M. L. (2008). The Design and Evaluation of Physical Protection Systems (2nd ed.). Burlington, MA:
Butterworth-Heinemann.