PPA 573 – Emergency Management and Homeland Security Lecture 5a- What is Homeland Security?

Definitions National Strategy of Homeland Security. – Homeland security is a concerted national effort to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, reduce America’s vulnerability to terrorism, and minimize the damage and recover from attacks that do occur. “Concerted national effort.” – Although the federal government has a critical role to play in homeland security, the nature of American society and the structure of American governance make it impossible to achieve the goal of a secure homeland through federal executive branch action alone. Any strategy should pursue the principles of shared responsibility.

Definitions “Prevent.” – The first priority of homeland security is to prevent terrorist attacks: By defeating terrorism. Detecting terrorists before they strike. Prevent entry to the country. Take decisive action to eliminate the threat they pose. Special emphasis given to catastrophic threats. Primary sources: weapons of mass destruction, strategic information warfare, attacks on critical infrastructure, and attacks on the highest leadership in government.

Definitions “Terrorist attacks.” – Focused on terrorism in the United States. – Terrorism is “any premeditated, unlawful act dangerous to human life or public welfare that is intended to intimidate or coerce civilian populations or governments.” – Covers kidnappings; hijackings; shootings; conventional bombings; attacks involving chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear weapons; cyber attacks; or other forms of malicious violence. – Terrorists can be U.S. citizens or foreigners, acting in concert with others, on their own, or on behalf of a hostile state.

Definitions “Reduce America’s vulnerability.” – Homeland security involves a systematic, comprehensive, and strategic effort to reduce America’s vulnerability to attack. – Develop a strategy to work with private sector to identify and protect our critical infrastructure and key assets, detect terrorist threats, and augment our defenses. – Acceptable risk: Balancing the benefits of mitigating the risk against the economic costs and infringements on individual liberties that this mitigation entails. This is an inherently political decision.

Definitions “Minimize the damage.” – The United States will prepare to manage the consequences of any future terrorist attacks that may occur despite our best efforts at prevention. – Primary focus on first responders. “Recover.” – As an essential component of homeland security, the United States will build and maintain various financial, legal, and social systems to recover from all forms of terrorism.

Principles of Homeland Security Require responsibility and accountability. – Designate lead executive branch agencies for federal homeland security initiatives. Mobilize our entire society. – Recognize the crucial role of state and local governments, private institutions, and the American people in securing the homeland. – Our traditions of federalism and limited government require that organizations outside of the federal government take the lead in many of these efforts.

A New Definition Homeland Security The prevention, deterrence, and preemption of, and defense against, aggression targeted at U.S. territory, sovereignty, population, and infrastructure as well as the management of the consequences of such aggression and other domestic emergencies. Homeland Defense The prevention, preemption, and deterrence of, and defense against, direct attacks aimed at U.S. territory, population, and infrastructure. Civil Support DoD support to civilian authorities for natural and manmade domestic emergencies, civil disturbances, and designated law enforcement efforts.

Principles of Homeland Security Manage risk and allocate resources judiciously. – Identify priority programs for the finite homeland security resources. Seek opportunity out of adversity. – Pay special attention to programs that improve security and advance other important public purposes or principles: national incident management system.

Principles of Homeland Security Foster flexibility. – Because terrorists are strategic actors, the homeland security structure should have managerial, budgetary, and structural flexibility. Measure preparedness. – Demand accountability from every government body responsible for homeland security initiatives. – Every department and agency will create benchmarks and other performance measures by which we can evaluate progress and allocate future resources.

Principles of Homeland Security Sustain efforts over the long-term. Constrain government spending. – In addition to new or expanded government programs, we should also pursue government reorganization, legal reform, essential regulation, incentives, cost-sharing arrangements with state and local governments, cooperative arrangements with the private sector, and the organized involvement of citizens.

Implementing Homeland Security Preventing terrorist attacks. Reducing vulnerabilities. Minimizing damage and recovering from the attacks that do occur. Intelligence and warning. Border and transportation security. Domestic counterterrorism. Protecting critical infrastructure and key assets. Defending against catastrophic terrorism. Emergency preparedness and response.

Threats and Vulnerability Terrorists are strategic actors. They choose their targets deliberately based on the weaknesses they observe in our defenses and our preparations. They can balance the difficulty in successfully executing a particular attack against the magnitude of loss it may cause.

Threats and Vulnerability Our free society is inherently vulnerable, making it easier for terrorists to hide and operate. Five key elements of way of life. – Democracy. – Liberties. – Security. – Economy. – Culture.

Threats and Vulnerability Means of attack. – Weapons of mass destruction. Chemical. Biological. Radiological. Nuclear. – Conventional means. Physical attack. Suicide bombings. Kidnappings. Hostages. – Cyber attacks. – New or unexpected means.

Threats and Vulnerability The terrorists. – Tactical advantages. Time, place, method. Flexibility. Long-range planning. Anonymity. – Known terrorist groups. Al-Qaeda. Hizballah. Hamas. Real Irish Republican Army. Domestic organizations.

Elements of Homeland Security – Donley and Pollard Goals and objectives. – Deterrence and prevention. – Protection – Response and recovery. Missions. – Counterterrorism. – Aerospace defense. Air sovereignty. Missile defense.

Elements of Homeland Security – Donley and Pollard Missions (contd.). – Land defense. – Maritime security. – Border security, immigration, and customs. – Critical infrastructure protection. Energy. Transportation (air, seaports, rail). Information and communications networks. Water and vital human services. Banking and finance.

Elements of Homeland Security – Donley and Pollard Missions (contd.). – Public health. – Consequence management. – Antiterrorism and preparedness.

Elements of Homeland Security – Donley and Pollard Tools and means. – Coordinated policy planning and strategy development. – Diplomacy. – Military operations and support to civil authorities. – Intelligence. – Law enforcement. – Financial oversight and controls. – Resource allocation. – Training and exercises. – Material and technology.

Elements of Homeland Security – Donley and Pollard Components. – Federal departments and agencies. – Congressional oversight and appropriations. – Courts. – State departments and agencies. – Local government and first responders. Threats. – Chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and high-explosive weapons and WMD. – Multiple delivery systems. – Natural disasters.

Elements of Homeland Security – Donley and Pollard Sources. – Sovereign governments and rogue states. – Terrorist organizations. Foreign. Domestic.

The Strategic Cycle of Homeland Security – ANSER Institute

The Strategic Cycle of Homeland Security – ANSER Institute – Ruth David A comprehensive strategy for homeland security must encompass all phases of the strategic cycle. Therefore, the national objectives must be deterrence, prevention, preemption, crisis management, consequence management, attribution, and response.

The Strategic Cycle of Homeland Security – ANSER Institute The ultimate goal, of course, is to deter future attacks— by convincing the enemy that their efforts will be unsuccessful and/or that our response will be both immediate and devastating. In short, this will mean we must implement strategies to prevent the acquisition or delivery of asymmetric weapons, to preempt attacks already in motion, to limit the impact of an attack through crisis and consequence management, to attribute an attack to the perpetrator as well as the ultimate sponsor, and to respond immediately with the full force of our military and/or legal establishments.

The Strategic Cycle of Homeland Security – ANSER Institute The strength of our nation is based on the distribution of authority and power among federal, state, and local governments, the free market that is the basis of our economy, and the personal freedom and privacy afforded to every citizen.

The Strategic Cycle of Homeland Security – ANSER Institute Responsibility for protecting our homeland is distributed across a range of diverse organizations—complicating the development and implementation of a national strategy. How can we ensure that related fragments of information are fused to create national—versus local—situational awareness?

The Strategic Cycle of Homeland Security – ANSER Institute How can we create the excess capacity that would be needed to respond to a biological attack in a market-driven health care system? How can we identify terrorists living among us without infringing on the privacy of our citizens? We must defend our homeland, but we must also protect the strengths of our nation.

The Strategic Cycle of Homeland Security – ANSER Institute The goal should be a national strategy—not a federal strategy—a synergy of the actions of individual organizations at all levels, ensuring that gaps are filled, conflicts are eliminated, and overlaps are minimized. The three-dimensional framework in figure 1 may help to visualize the inherent complexities of the challenge. Within each subcube, we have a national objective, a threat category, and operational entities with varying responsibilities. Although operational responsibilities will not be uniformly distributed, a comprehensive national strategy must assign missions and authorities within each space.

The Strategic Cycle of Homeland Security – ANSER Institute