The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was founded in 2002 in response to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon to prevent any future threat of terrorism that even slightly presented danger to American soil. Congress passed the Homeland Security act in 2002 which absorbed every agency at the time who was working in, “Response to disasters caused by terrorism, natural hazards, or technological hazards” (Haddow 331). Among other agencies, the DHS assumed responsibility over other agencies who presided over the borders and ports as well as those responsible for immigration and citizenship. After reviewing the Brief Documentary History of the Department of Homeland Security, there is not one mention of natural disasters …show more content…
FEMA’s mission and priorities were changed so that, “terrorism prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery became central to the emergency management mission” (Haddow 325). As a result of the terrorist attacks on 9/11 the country’s focus shifted completely from natural disasters to an outright major assault on all things terrorism with no second glance at the potential emergency’s natural disasters presented. There might be a possibility that because of the nation’s extreme obsession with terrorists and terrorism that Hurricane Katrina was not given full priority nor given as much thought as it should have been because the whole focus of the government was on terrorism. When an agency and governmental structure, such as the defense agencies, undergoes an extreme shift within the course of a few years brought on so suddenly, there are bound to be weaknesses. Hurricane Katrina was the most challenging threat that tested the DHS as well as FEMA’s preparation and mitigation of natural disasters since the shift of focus. Ultimately, the entire government failed the people affected by Hurricane Katrina and are still handling the terrible situation to this day. Had the captivation and focus not been so hard on terrorism, I believe that
Hurricane Katrina shift the position of the Department of Homeland Security from making natural disasters an equally as important as terrorism. This even showed that disaster planning requires a great deal of collaboration. The Department of Homeland Security who swallowed up FEMA where not quick to react to Hurricane Katrina because all their focus was spend on planning for a prevent terrorist attacks. The failure of the disaster response system resulted in over 1,200 lives lost in Louisiana and Mississippi. FEMA failed to work closely with its State and local counterparts and communications between these partners and the public were strained at best.
The response explains the faults that took place that delayed the ability to get victims in New Orleans health care and also shows the steps that should have taken place to help the citizens in New Orleans. It begins explaining the proposals that were suggested after hurricane Katrina. There were two different policy’s, one was a bipartisan proposal from congress that aimed to provide temporary, federally funded Medicaid coverage to low-income individuals affected by the hurricane, no matter where they sought care. It would also have 800 million dollars to help uninsured victims of the hurricane. While the estimated cost of this would only be 8.9 billion.
In accordance with the 2014 Quadrennial Homeland Security Review, the terrorist threat is one of the prevailing challenges that pose a significant risk level to the United States as well as to American citizens abroad and many U.S. allies (Department of Homeland Security, 2014). In the United States, the Federal Government assumes the responsibility for leading the efforts that seek to manage the risk level of the terrorist threat. That is why the Federal Government has created the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), whose main mission is to prevent terrorist threats by managing their risk levels (DHS, 2014). Since the terrorist threat is a very complex threat to manage for one entity or agency alone, the DHS is able to accomplish its main mission by working in partnerships with many federal agencies; State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial (SLLTT) Governments; private and public organizations; international partners; and communities all across the United States (DHS, 2014). In all of those partnerships, the Federal Government through the DHS plays a leadership role
e mission of the department of homeland security is “to secure the nation from the many threats we face. This requires the dedication of more than 240,000 employees in jobs that range from aviation and border security to emergency response, from cybersecurity analyst to chemical facility inspector. Their duties are wide-ranging, and our goal is clear - keeping America safe” the secr Thetary oversees the third largest department of the cabinet keeping america safe from terrorists. He runs this organization but is not the only one with a voice in homeland security.above him is the president which they have to listen to.plus they have a variety of advisory panels and committees to make sure everything there runs smooth. Also, there are many levels and jobs to the department some of them include law enforcement, immigration and travel security,prevention and response,and mission support careers.
The Department of homeland security was formed in the wake of the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. It was created as a part of a determined effort to protect the United States against terrorism. The goal of the DHS is simple, one department of homeland security, one enterprise, a shared vision, with integrated results-based operations. There are a variety of topics handled by the DHS which are academic engagement, border security, critical infrastructure security, disasters, homeland security enterprise, human trafficking, preventing terrorism, privacy, transportation security, economic security, and plenty more. Terrorists’ attacks on the United States in the past years have sparked a national fear that many people
Protecting Diversity and Civil Rights in Emergency Response Allen Nickerson Kaplan University Protecting Diversity and Civil Rights in Emergency Response Upon looking back at the history of this great nation we have come to know and love living in known as the United States of America, there have been numerous battles for something citizens felt violated about. We think about the Civil War and numerous battles before and after this great war that have been fought in order to obtain the highest level of freedom, ownership, and status in this nation. Even more important, there has to be an account for all the lives that were lost and sacrificed to obtain something that is deemed to be as valuable as life itself. This would be equal rights
Since September 11, 2001, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was made as an immediate reaction to the assaults on that day. The divisions mission is to avert terrorism and upgrade security, oversee U.S. outskirts, managing movement laws, securing the internet, and guaranteeing debacle versatility. To encourage these missions, DHS has organizations, office, and dictorates that consider a far reaching and versatile division to battle fear, react to acts in an opportune way, and ensure the U.S. against all demonstrations of dread. There are investigation 's of the organizations that encourage these goals and how they bolster the aggregate DHS lawful mission.
Introduction This informational interview was conducted with Dr. Pamela Aaltonen, a Homeland Security instructor at Purdue University, and active member at the Tippecanoe Board of Health. Her role here is to frame issues in the concept of Homeland security and emergency management. Dr. Aaltonen holds a key role in Homeland Security, as many disasters contain human health issues, such as mass causalities, pandemic outbreaks, and sanitary issues following natural disasters. Dr. Aaltonen’s flavor of Homeland Security differs from the work that I normally see, but as displayed during the interview, Homeland Security is a multi-disciplinary field that requires cooperation across all fields.
More and more authorities continue to be taken away and have been spread across many agencies within DHS. “FEMA no longer manages a comprehensive emergency management program of mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery and the agency function that President Carter and the Governors envisioned in 1979 no longer exists” (FEMA, 2013). The sole focus has turned to terrorism disaster preparedness and FEMA has become somewhat dismantled and lost its ability to provide the command and control that it had prior to the move to DHS. This will prove to be a major flaw and will again, show the failure of FEMA in the next occurrence of natural disaster the United States faces. There are other agencies within the DHS that need to be scrutinized as
The reaction to Hurricane Katrina to me is shockingly similar to events that have happened both in the past and today in New Orleans. In the weeks after Katrina, the people of New Orleans were devastated by the death of family members, and the loss of their businesses, but eventually they began to rebuild the city just like they did after Hurricane Betsy. Since the construction of the levees
Information for the above table retrieved from http://www.dhs.gov/components-directorates-and-offices and Bullock, Haddow, & Coppola, 2013 In addition to these components directly supporting the DHS, there are other key agencies working with DHS to address a wide variety of issues. These agencies include the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Department of Education, the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Justice, Department of State, Department of Defense, and many others. Individual State and Local Agencies also work closely with DHS. Colorado Homeland Security The Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management was established under the Department of Public Safety in 2012 (State of Colorado, 2015).
On September 11, 2001 America experienced a foreign terrorist attack from Al-Qaeda that would bring Americans together and change the way society viewed traveling forever. There are and have been many different opinions on the policies put in place in response to that deathly September day. The laws following as a result of the 9/11 attacks have ensured better safety and national security but have also impeded the U.S. citizens privacy from the government. Whether or not the measures taken were necessary given their consequences is still a topic of public discussion to this day.
There were communication mistakes and other mistakes made during Hurricane Katrina. First of all, detailed and direct information was sent to people for evacuation too close to the time when Katrina was about to hit, not allowing people to prepare for the disaster. If things could be done differently, there should be communication and coordination centers housed in areas where information can be sent directly to the authorities. The lack of ability to communicate with each other and coordinate a response was another mistake. Federal officials struggle to perform responsibilities that are usually conducted by State or local authorities, such as to rescue citizens stranded by the floodwater and evacuate the remaining population of New Orleans
The Stafford Act was enacted in 1988 and determines how and when the federal government is allowed to intervene in a natural disaster. It also defines the type of assistance to be provided as well as the distribution of funds among the federal, state and local governments. FEMA is responsible for coordinating the assistance identified in the Stafford Act. However, FEMA has to answer to the Secretary of Homeland Security rather than making their own decisions. The authors describe how our current governmental system isn’t well equipped to deal with major devastation such as Hurricane Katrina.
Critical Infrastructure Protection [Name of Writer] [Name of Institution] Critical Infrastructure Protection 1. Interpret the Department of Homeland Security‘s mission, operations and responsibilities. The department of homeland security is responsible for ensuring a secure and safe homeland against acts of terrorism. The key elements of the department’s mission include: • Security • Resilience • Customs and Exchange