Bureaucracy, Intelligence and Homeland Security Essay

The terrorist labializes of September 11, 2001 shook the nation to its core. Politicians felt a tremendous pressure non only to go on the attack over against the terrorists, but to a fault to secure the fatherland. As a resolving power the linked States government responded the counsel it often does in a crisis It created a huge impudently bureaucracy. The Department of native land certification (DHS) was designed to consolidate dozens of agencies under one roof. Theoretically this would streamline the process of protec crapperg the homeland. The news program lick of 2004 was designed to rep melodic line focus this process while also protecting the civil rights of Americans.Proponents of the DHS argue that there has non been a major attack on American soil since 2001. This presents an in bring to pass picture of the earnest landscape however. DHS is whitewash very much a work in progress. It has been plagued by numerous rise up- habitualized problems. The Depar tment of fatherland trade protection has not met the strategic goals and objectives set forth in the give-and-take operation rejuvenate form of 2004. Therefore, the DHS has not successfully provided national bail. The Act and the Bureaucracy The consolidation of so just about(prenominal) agencies under one roof was unprecedented in Washington.Early fears that the bureaucracy would be so unwieldy as to be out of consider seemed to be justified. After 9/11 the government felt an immoderate pressure to do something. The miss of coordination amid agencies was exposed by these attacks. intromission of the DHS was an attempt to remedy this problem, but the dominance itself was a massive undertaking. In umteen ways it is an post still trying to find its footing. The DHS began trading operations in 2003 with to a greater extent than 180. 000 employees (Brzezinski, 2004). It oversees dozens of agencies with a dizzying array of responsibilities.From the start the agency has worked against long odds and excessive expectations. There is a gap between what the public expects of DHS and what DHS actually believes it can do. This makes it even more difficult for the DHS to play effectively. A well known axiom within the cognition fraternity states that The terrorists only feature to be right once we hire to be right every time. Meanwhile the American public is illiberal of failure. The reality that eventually the terrorists will succeed again is not well understood.In fact, The very notion of trying to design a zero-terrorist-risk environs is heavyly futile (Brzezinski, 2004). As the DHS scuffled through its first few years, social intercourse and the American people became impatient. In 2004 relation back took action to reform the DHS and the intelligence and aegis apparatus. In an effort to re-focus DHS activities to the modern threat environment, Congress passed the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004. The Act revised a number of feed of the Nat ional Security Act of 1947. It set guidelines for information sharing, inter-agency cooperation and covert operations. atomic number 23 years later some of its provisions deplete been pass overed m both have not. Prevention and Preparation The Department of Homeland Security is a vast organization with a vast number of duties. It is responsible for two day-to-day protection of the homeland and strategic long-term efforts to prevent terrorist act in the future. Additionally it must respond to attacks already under way and is often called in on natural disaster situations. DHS duties on any given day include, but ar not limited to application 1. 5 million airline passengers and inspecting 57,006 shipping containers very day DHS reviews 2200 intelligence reports. It stands watch over 8,000 federal facilities and pieces of fine infrastructure. (Brzezinski, 2004)The Intelligence Reform Act of 2004 was intended to further streamline inter-agency cooperation between the more depar tments of the DHS. In some cases, such as the apprehension of alleged terrorist cells in Buffalo, NY and Miami, FLA, better cooperation has been evident. However, reports of sodomist wars and lack of cooperation still sur cheek periodically. In some cases the DHS has had a tin ear in regards to Congress and the American people.Frequent news stories have made the public awargon of the vulnerability of U. S. ports. Only a precise per centumage of the cargo that passes through these ports is screened. Technology and manpower to do so thoroughly argon still limited. In reception to public pressure, Congress strengthened port trade protection provisions in the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004. The response from DHS was anything but urgent The Department (Homeland Security) resisted cytosine percent screening and offered a half measure involving known shippers Congress in 2007 mandated full inspection of shipping containers, which has not yet been implemented. (Clarke, 2008)The Transp ortation Security Administration (TSA) is primarily responsible for both passenger and cargo protection. It defends its account book by pointing to several accomplishments. These include screening of 700,000 port workers and issuing of directives mandating 100% screening of high risk cargo (The Library of Congress, 2004). These efforts still stick short of what Congress has mandated. much recent focus has gone into the reappearance of border security. DHS has made progress on, but not completed a border fence. Border Patrol personnel have been increased.Technology for find mislabeled entry is improving, including the use of Predator drones to detect illegal crossers so Border Patrol can then be deployed. In response to criticism the DHS and ICE, its immigration division, have been forced to end the catch and move around policy that was in place for many years. According to the DHS, the number of illegal aliens interdicted at the border has decreased. DHS and the border patro l claim this as point that their efforts ar successful. It is presumable, however, that additional factors explain the decrease in interdictions.Events in Mexico, the downturn in the U.S. economy and more sophisticated means of entering the outlandish also play a role. The FBI and CIA in tandem with local guard are employing more sophisticated surveillance and search tools as well as providing security at large events that could be inviting targets for terrorists. Infrastructure security has improved but many important locations still lack sufficient security. These include local water/sewer plants, electrical grids, mass transport schemes and energy facilities. In the process of trying to provide such protections the DHS has had to face criticism from civil libertarians.An ongoing debate continues about where national security crosses the line into beingness an erosion of hard-earned American civil rights. This debate is likely to continue in perpetuity. The changing la ndscapes of threat and fear alter the rate of that line. After the 9/11 attacks, Americans were much more willing to workmanship civil rights for a perceived sense of security. In the years since many of the actions taken during that time, such as domestic warrantless wire tapping and random drome searches have come under heavy criticism.It is likely that the DHS is engaging in a number of unknown activities that would be highly disturbing to the preponderating public. This has always been true of the American intelligence and security establishment. There is no evidence that these activities are any worse or more prevalent since the founding of the DHS. In defense of the DHS, the organization must toe a slippery line. It is expected to take wonderful measures to protect the nation. What is too extraordinary is never well-defined or unchanging. Bang for the Buck? The Department of Homeland Security has not been without certain(prenominal) successes.The Science and Technology Directorate has been a standout among the many branches of DHS. Composed of some of the finest minds in the world, the Directorate has made earthshaking advances in a number of different areas targeted toward fulfillment of the Intelligence Act of 2004. The US-VISIT program has made progress in the area of VISA overstays. manner spotting software is helping agents at ports of entry to identify and address suspicious behavior. DNA mapping technology is helping to more speedily identify biological agents and assess any potential threat.At the identical time an early sample system for these agents is in development. All of these developments have both civilian and military applications. On the forefront of information security is the mavin 3 project currently undergoing testing. A Washington mail service report describes the initiative this way the plan called for telecommunications companies to route the Internet vocation of civilian agencies through a monitoring box that wou ld search for and gag law computer codes designed to penetrate or otherwise compromise networks (Nakashima, 2009).If successful, Einstein 3 could help ensure secrecy of vital infrastructure and security information. This is all the more important in light of recent reports of widespread hacking of government computers. Analysts suspect, but are still unable to prove, that North Korean or Chinese hackers are responsible for the repeated breaches in security. The American public may have assumed that the founding of DHS represented a massive financial investment in Americas security. In reality, the DHS budget is not substantially more than its individual agencies were already receiving. The integrity of the matter is that Homeland Security is a shoestring operation (Brzezinski, 2004).This explains a lot about why measures deemed critical and necessary in 2001, and again in 2004, still have not been implemented. The agency is supposed to be free of the turf wars that plagued the in telligence community in the past. Because the individual agencies still lobby for a limited amount of funds this is not the reality. The harshest critics of the agency believe that is too much about appearing to do something and not enough about actually doing something.The confusing color-coded terror warning system is one such example. Col. David Hunt (ret. ) writes of such efforts Colors, duct tape and woody desks dont stop 10 kiloton bombs or terrorists (2005). With a new administration in power the DHS is considering dropping or altering the color-code warning system. distributively time the alert system is raised costs are incurred by local, state and federal governments. The public has become oblivious to the system since specific information about the threat or what to do are never given.The ability of Americans to travel freely is the key to its future prosperity. For that causation a great deal of attention has been given to transportation relate such as railroads, su bways and airlines. The results have been mixed. Airport security, perhaps the most glaring of DHS efforts has come under withering criticism. Inevitably errors will make better news than successes. The errors are numerous however, and come not only in the execution of policy but in the policies themselves. For example Our government keeps no fewer than twelve watch lists that we can choose from.Mind you, not one consolidated list that would be too easy (Hunt, 2005). Much of airport security has been federalized, but that does not mean the system is operating(a) smoothly. The watch lists are anything but accurate. Babies and young children have been flagged. Even a U. S. Representative, Sen. Edward Kennedy was stopped because he somehow appeared on a list. Random checks that result in searches of senior citizens, disabled people and children have been a public relations nightmare for the TSA, the organization within DHS responsible for travel safety. coping with these problems make s the jobs of airport screeners, many of whom are still being trained, all the more difficult. The TSA has required airlines to make certain security changes like locking cabin doors. On a random number of flights an armed federal air marshal is seated in the cabin. The prevalence of these marshals is a cabalistic held tightly by the TSA. Random security checks run by breakaway agencies still raise concerns about the ease of getting potentially dangerous material on board domestic aircraft.Meanwhile the lack of a terrorist incident since the attempted shoe bombing by Richard Reid has led to a false sense of security. Since the border issue reached critical mass during the encourage term of President George W. Bush spending on border security has increased. Critics worry that this increase has come at the expense of other critical DHS efforts. Department officials concede that most of the Homeland Security money is being funneled into one mission controlling the border with Mexic o (Alden, 2008). The DHS and border patrol are fulfilling mandates of the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004.But lack funding to complete many other initiatives. Analysis and Conclusion The Department of Homeland Security was proposed as an organization free of policy-making influence. The reality is much different. A giant organization with tentacles stretching in numerous directions is inevitably political when funding for it is limited. DHS has the problems of any other Washington bureaucracy. The organization has garnered mixed reviews from self-sufficing analysts. To date there has not been another serious terrorist attack in the United States since 2001.A number of Al Qaeda and Al Qaeda- godly cells have been infiltrated and brought to justice. The DHS should be given credit where credit is due in that regard. At the same time the actions of DHS have raised concerns that the civil rights of Americans are being eroded. It is also misleading to assume that the lack of attacks si nce 2001 is a firm indicator that the country is safe. In fact it is dangerous to assume so. The efforts of U. S. forces afield probably have had as much to do as anything with the lack of attacks on American soil.At the same time, the enemy who successfully penalize the 9/11 attacks did so after years of planning. It is very likely that they, or some other enemy is studying the cracks in the Homeland Security apparatus in preparation for a future attack. This is a 21st century reality. DHS was given license after 9/11 to take shortcuts around the civil rights of individuals in the name of national security. Each successive generation of Americans will have to decide what they are willing to give up for a sense of security that may or may not be realistic.Has the DHS protected America from terrorist attacks? Yes and no. rough of the actions it has taken have had clear-cut results. Others have not. Can it protect the homeland for the foreseeable future? Probably not. The DHS has n ot met many of its original mandates, as well as the mandates from the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004. In certain instances it has shown the kind of bureaucratic inflexibility that allowed for the 9/11 attacks to take place. The American government has to be right every time The terrorists only have to be right once.