The present world is full of different dangers, as those which are made by nature, and also those which can be a result of people’s actions. We are talking about terrorism, technical disasters and nature phenomenon which may appear in the modern world, and that there must be the structure which will be able to protect citizens of the country. The state structure, which is responsible to people’s security, if any of the disasters occur, is the Department of Homeland Security.
The idea of creating a new department appeared after horrible events in September, 2001. The offer was to do “the most extensive reorganization of the Federal Government since the 1940s by creating a new department of Homeland Security” (Ball 2005).
The secretary Janet Napolitano in the testimony before Senate Homeland Security (2009) announced that the drug cartels waged the campaign of violence in the USA and it is the duty of the Department of Homeland Security to take the responsibility of maintaining the order in the society. And it is not the only example where society needs a strict and hard hand of the named department.
The question is whether the “response capabilities of the new department of Homeland Security have been adequately tested” (Bullock 2006). The Department of Homeland Security in the USA is financed by the government as one of the biggest part of federal budget. And the financing increases every year, as from year to year America wants to guarantee the safety to people, who live there. “In 2004, this amount was $35,6 million, which rose to $38,5 million in 2005, and to $41 million in 2006” (Bullock 2006).
The Department of Homeland Security is rather young and it cannot observe all questions in a proper way, but this department gathered all previous departments which were responsible for the state security. “If the FBI and CIA are at the forefront of the war against terror, the Department of Homeland Security and various groups included within it play very important supporting roles, such as patrolling the nation’s waterways and airports, carefully screening all visitors and temporary residents of the United States, and, if worse comes to worst, providing disaster relief” (Haulley 2005).
The Department makes everything possible to gain respect and to be able to work more productive, but as the authors of the book Transatlantic Homeland Security (2006) write, “the Department of Homeland Security lacks the type of authority over US intelligence agencies” and we absolutely agree with them. The department is going to protect people more properly in near future, but not now. The response capabilities of the new Department of Homeland Security have not been adequately tested, in our opinion. There was given too much responsibility on the shoulders of relevantly young structure, but we are definitely sure that with the current financing the Department will gain the reputation of the best security department in the whole world. Even now, lacking the authority, the department does everything it can to protect us from outside threat, like terrorism.
The United States of America cares much about its security, especially after the events in September, 2001. It has organized the structure which is responsible for the security of the country and finance a huge amount of budget money into it. And it is for good, as the security of the country should be on the first place. There cannot be powerful and influential country if its own security is under the threat.
Works Cited
- Ball, H. (2005) U.S. homeland security: a reference handbook. ABC-CLIO.
- Bullock, J. A., Haddow, G. D., Coppola, D., Ergin, E., Westerman, L., & Yeletaysi, S. (2006) Introduction to homeland security. Butterworth-Heinemann.
- Dalgaard-Nielsen, A. Hamilton, D. S. Transatlantic Homeland Security: Protecting Society in the Age of Catastrophic Terrorism. Routledge.
- Haulley, F. (2005) The Department of Homeland Security. Rosen Classroom
- “Testimony of Secretary Janet Napolitano before Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Southern Border Violence: Homeland Security Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Responsibilities”. 2009.