Terrorist Prevention Programs in Homeland Security

Abstract 

This essay will explain how Homeland Security and the nine main components of the Terrorist Prevention system that are emplaced, have change the perception of national security. After the attacks on 9/11, President Bush made one the most important decision that will impact the United State of America in a positive way. That decision was to create the program that would prevent this from ever happening again. This program is headed by the Department of Homeland Security as a way to prevent any foreign or domesticated attacks in the future. The Main components of the Terrorist Prevention is Weapons of Mass Destruction, Infrastructure Security, Improvised Explosive Devices or IEDs, if you See Something Say Something, National Terrorism Advisory System, REAL ID, and lastly Terrorism Prevention Partnerships.

The 9/11 terrorist attacks on America was the most depressing surprise in history. This unfortunate event has caused so much turmoil and this was the reason for creating a national security that will be against local and foreign-based attacks against the United States of America.  This decision was made for the reason of the attacks on 9/11 by AL Qaeda and because the U.S.A was not prepared at all. President Bush and his administration figured out a solution to prevent and defend the nation with new information gained from the terrible experience. This will give the citizens of the United States the confidence in its government to defend. Homeland Security is now the resistance against terrorism and with its new system, which would help detour or potentially stop an attack. The prevention of terrorism initiative is a reminder to the public that Homeland Security focus is always to protect American citizens from terrorist attacks to preserve the freedom and prosperity for all American citizens. The terrorist prevention initiative involves understanding potential threats and how to counter those threats. Also, constant improvements to the methods of preventing threats and monitor any potential risks These main components of the Terrorism preventing initiative is as important as the next. Weapons of mass destruction is one of the most critical components that will make sure no single weapon can wipe-out America.  Infrastructure security provides protection to important infrastructures that are a very critical for the nation. Improvised explosion devices (IEDs) allow for our country to be better prepared against unsuspecting explosive. The “if you see something say something” motto is an important method that Homeland Security has implemented. It involves the public as the eyes and ears for national security. It’s an additional security that helps to gain the trust of the public and access the possible threat. REAL ID is another vital component that helps to create better regulations for the identification process and makes sure the appropriate information is kept for record. The last component is the terrorism prevention partnerships which is an organization that that works together to help prevent and defend against terrorist acts in the United States.

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Weapons of Mass Destruction

The United States has multiple threats from terrorists and other countries that may have or have the capabilities to amass weapon of mass destruction.  Weapons of mass destructions are capable of harming a large number of peoples either by nuclear, radiological, chemical, biological and any number of other ways that a terrorist or enemy of America are capable of extreme harm to our country.  The cold war was not so much about what was being done to us by communism followers but the fear of potential nuclear attacks on us and ramifications that could come with it.  The fear that any moment on any day there could be a nuclear missile launched and millions of people would be possibly killed or affected drastically by the initial explosion and then the aftermath from the radioactive waves that could cause extreme disorder and disease to the people in the area.  (Bonvillian & Sharp, 2002)  Making sure our defensive systems against any form of an attack by a weapon of mass destruction are always updated with research and systems being implemented from the research.  This helps make sure we are protected and give us warning on possible attacks so we can prepare for them by evacuating or using some sort of countermeasure.  Public safety is a big key area for this component by making sure prevention and responding to threats are increased by all public safety departments.  Other programs that are not apart of the preventing terrorism initiative is countering of weapons of mass destruction which are mainly focused on the prevention as well as the strategic goals that are needed to help the prevention of weapons of mass destruction being used. 

Infrastructure Security1

Infrastructure Security is extremely important for the homeland security to protect and make sure these systems stay terror-free.  (BL & MS, 2007)  These systems are the basic functionality of our country and any system that can be potentially taken down that would cause tremendous harm to our wellbeing to the economy or security should be considered and put under the infrastructure security protocol.  Our national defense system is a very important system that we can never allow terrorist to get into and sabotage or steal information from.  Our clean water and sanitation systems are also very important because these systems being tampered with our shutdown can cause unsafe drinking water for our citizens which in turn can cause diseases and other things to happen.  Poisoning our water system and it being unnoticed could cause a major loss of life or debilitating sickness from the contamination or poisoning.  If a terrorist find vulnerabilities in a major system they will exploit it and they will take advantage of that system being down and the potential harm that could come a mass number of citizens because of this.  Our missile systems are very important in keeping secure and keeping them up and running to prevent attacks.  If a terrorist takes down or hacks into our missile defense system then they can use our missile against us and target our own facilities or major cities with these weapons.  (BL & MS, 2007)  This system works well with the weapons of mass destruction component because of the need to understand what weapons of mass destructions are out there and security infrastructure needs to be implemented in the prevention of that weapon being used or targeting one of our core security infrastructure systems.  Targeting our core systems like water and electric can be huge with weapons of mass destruction and understanding the prevention measures and procedures if something like this happens if very important for the homeland security to implement. 

IEDs.

IEDs or Improvised Explosive Devices are still one of the main ways that terrorist successfully attacks the United States and still is one of the more popular devices used for attacking the United States by terrorists.  (Gowadia & Mardigras, 2015)  This is because IEDs devices are usually very easy to construct and figure out how to construct due to everything being on the internet like explaining how to build a bomb.  IEDs have still been the most available device to get because of the ease of construction and most of the components for building IEDs can be found in local department stores or gathered pretty easily compared to other materials for other devices.  The last big reason as to why IEDs are still the most popular is that they still can be very destructive when it comes to the damage that can be caused from and IEDs whether it is the destruction of building to the loss of mass life due to an IED explosion.  (Gowadia & Mardigras, 2015)  The department’s office for Bombing Prevention is another separate component that coordinates with the DHS for enhancement of our nations counter IEDs capabilities.  IEDs can be weapons of mass destruction depending on how big the explosion and the area affected by the explosion which makes these two components crucial in working together to help prevent the use of IEDs and weapons of mass destructions. 

If you see something say something.

This is the motto that means do not ignore suspicious activity and do not think in this day and age that we live in that you are better off minding your business.  Even if your gut is wrong or you may not have seen what you think you saw after things are investigated it is still better to be safe then sorry when it comes to possible terrorist attacks and the destruction that could have been prevented if something was said.  Understanding that it is our job as American citizens as well to help protect our country from foreign and domesticated attacks.  When the bombing happens with the Boston marathon there were widespread reports from neighbors communities members who saw suspicious activities from the people who were conducting the attacks.  This suspicious activity was seen months in advance, from when the initial bombing took place.  When reporting suspicious activity to homeland security you must be able to describe what suspicious activities you saw by who and what you saw, when you saw it, where the sighting occurred, and lastly, why did you think what you saw was suspicious.  (Bonvillian & Sharp, 2002)  This helps the department of homeland security generate what claims have the highest priority and how serious the claim should be taken.  This component works with all other components because of the need to notify the weapons of mass destruction if you get a tip that may implement the use of weapons of mass destruction.   

National Terrorism advisory system and REAL ID.

The National Terrorism Advisory system is a way to communicate with the public, government agencies, first responders, and public sector organizations such as airports, buses, and other major forms of public transportation.  The National Terrorism Advisory will provide a precise and accurate summary of any potential threats and whatever actions had to be taken or are being taken to help eliminate or render that threat harmless.  They use bulletins and alerts to get across information to the public and government agencies and is somewhat similar to the missing child alerts we get on our mobile devices now.  This system must work with all other components of the Terrorist preventions initiative because they must gather all sorts of information regarding all types of potential threats or attacks.  The REAL ID is a new way for identification to be given out and processed to help ensure that identification is faulty and is valid.  This can be used for areas such as accessing federal facilities, nuclear power plants, boarding airplanes, and any other secure location.  There are currently only 11 states who do not meet the minimum requirements for identification purposes when giving out their state identification cards or driver license.  Making sure, these documents such as driver license and state id are correct and not forged help keep the framework of our national security safe.  (BL & MS, 2007)

Conclusion

Homeland security is very important to how we protect and keep our country safe from all foreign and domesticated attacks.  Understanding each component of the Terrorism Preventing initiative in place with homeland security can greatly enhance your knowledge of potential threats and how to prevent those potential threats and attacks from occurring.  Terrorist attacks are real and there will be more unsuccessful attempts as well as successful attacks on our nations and we must continue to support, grow, and learn with our Homeland Security department of defense. 

References

• BL, W., & MS, M. (2007, Sep). Weapons of mass destruction. Emergency preparedness among people living near US army chemical weapons sites after September 11, 2001. American Journal of Public Health, 97(9), 1601-1006.
• Bonvillian, W. B., & Sharp, K. V. (2002, Winter). Homeland Security Technology. The issue’s in Science and Technology, 18(2), 43.
• Gowadia, H. A., & Mardigras, B. S. (2015). The Department of Homeland Security’s Approach to Countering Nuclear Terrorism through Detection and Technical Forensics. International Journal of Nuclear Security, 1(1).