Since September 11, 2001, the United States of America has made Homeland security an increasingly important political spectrum, significantly strengthening the law enforcement area. Despite the vitality of homeland security to the country’s protection, the government fails to provide a single clear definition of this department. The article by Bellavita determined the seven most accurate depictions of Homeland security, from which this essay will elect one that most accurately conceptualizes the department’s characterization.
The author, Bellavita, constitutes seven definitions of what is Homeland Security based on its various areas of implication and primary functions. The interpretations vary from concise and specific ones to more elaborate and extensive. The perception that corresponds to my point of view is that Homeland Security is about National Security. The article precisely states: “Homeland security is an element of national security that works with the other instruments of national power to protect the sovereignty, territory, domestic population, and critical infrastructure of the United States against threats and aggression” (Bellavita, 2015). The aforementioned characterization of Homeland Security best construes the specifics of the department’s endeavor.
The terrorist attack of 9/11 has decisively confirmed the need to reorganize the government to protect the citizens and recover the infrastructure from hazardous events. Over the two decades, the concept of Homeland Security’s functions considerably evolved, continually widening the area of responsibility. Such evolution is explained by the occurrence of new hazards that threatened the sustainability of the USA. Federation of American Scientists identifies missions the Department of Homeland Security performs based on the official documents as protection of Americans, infrastructure, and resources that evolve throughout the years adding cybersecurity disaster management and enforcing immigrant laws (Reese, 2013). Such conclusions confirm the accuracy of the chosen depiction by Bellavita.
There are various explanations of why the DHS closely connects to National Security; however, it is vital to distinguish that it is an independent department performing some of the National Security’s policies. Bellavita (2015) confirms that national hazards occurring at the beginning of the 21st century initiated an argument of the essential need to create a separate department of homeland security as part of the national security apparatus. Therefore, concluding from the definition, homeland security implies preventing and responding to multiple national security threats.
Department of Homeland Security covers a large area of obligations that often may be generalized. A common opinion is based on the concept that DHS solely solves terrorism problems or natural hazards; thus, the governmental strategies focus also on various other disasters such as cyberspace attacks, biological threats, and others. The DHS itself vividly explains the primary focal point of its work: “The cornerstone of homeland security is preventing terrorism, but homeland security must be multi-threat and all-hazard.”(Department of Homeland Security, 2014, p. 30). National security relies on DHS, becoming one of the most vital organs of the government, ensuring the protection against the most destructive endangerment.
Even though the current event at the Capitol does not show the National Homeland Security’s best side, the department must continue to learn from the mistakes. Failure to provide safety to the most influential officials in the United States has proven the DHS’s incompetence and further misleads the citizens about what national guards engage in. A New York Times journalist investigated that the Homeland Security department officials confirmed their unpreparedness for such tragic events (Mazzetti et al., 2021). Notwithstanding the direct task to protect national safety, DHS continues to figure out its area of authority.
As this essay elaborates on the precise meaning of homeland security, some competencies become more vivid, while others fade. A respectively new department is still at the point of formation, which is powered by National Security. Despite the lack of an official definition of the organ, it performs vital to modern American functions, safeguarding the citizens from fatal hazards. Hopefully, the longstanding notions of territoriality and proprietary work product would be jettisoned or mitigated by agencies across the government. In many ways, this has been realized, and the mission has continued to improve.
References
Bellavita, C. (2015). Changing homeland security: What is homeland security? Homeland Security Affairs Journal. Web.
Department of Homeland Security. (2014). The 2014 quadrennial homeland security review. DHS. Web.
Mazzetti, M., Cooper, H., Steinhauer, J., Kanno-Youngs, Z., & Broadwater, L. (2021). Inside a deadly siege: How a string of failures led to a dark day at the capitol. The New York Times. Web.
Reese, S. (2013). CRS report for congress defining homeland security: Analysis and congressional considerations. Web.