what is homeland security?

Question

what is it... why was it made... what are 5 good and bad things about it

Answer 1

Homeland security refers to governmental actions designed to prevent, detect, respond to, and recover from acts of terrorism, and also respond to natural disasters. The term became prominent in the United States following the September 11, 2001 attacks; it had been used only in limited policy circles prior to these attacks. Before this time, such action had been classified as civil defense.

Homeland security is officially defined as "a concerted national effort to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, reduce America’s vulnerability to terrorism, and minimize the damage and recover from attacks that do occur," according to the National Strategy for Homeland Security.[1] Because the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) includes the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) it has responsibility for preparedness, response and recovery to natural disasters as well.

Homeland security is generally used to refer to the broad national effort by all levels of government--federal, state, local and tribal--to protect the territory of the United States from hazards both internal and external as well as the Department of Homeland Security itself.

Homeland security is also usually used to connote the civilian aspect of this effort; "homeland defense" refers to its military component, led chiefly by the US Northern Command headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The scope of homeland security includes:

Emergency preparedness and response (for both terrorism and natural disasters), including volunteer medical, police, Emergency Management and fire personnel;
Domestic intelligence activities, largely today within the FBI;
Critical infrastructure protection;
Border security, including both land and maritime borders;
Transportation security, including aviation and maritime transportation;
Biodefense;
Detection of nuclear and radiological materials;
Research on next-generation security technologies.

In the United States
In the United States, the concept of "homeland security" extends and recombines responsibilities of much of the executive branch, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the United States Coast Guard, the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), the former U.S. Customs Service, the Secret Service, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The George W. Bush administration has consolidated many of these activities under the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), a new cabinet department established as a result of the Homeland Security Act of 2002. However, much of the nation's homeland security activity remains outside of DHS; for example, the FBI and CIA are not part of the Department, and other agencies such as the Department of Defense and Department of Health and Human Services play a significant role in certain aspects of homeland security. Homeland security is coordinated at the White House by the Homeland Security Council, currently headed by Frances Townsend.

atp

Answer 2

Homeland security is a myth which leads you into thinking everything is alrite.A so called combined effort of fed.state and local agencies tosmooth out the communications and info amongst each other in case of fedral emergency Katrina,terrorism ect..heres what i think 1)our border W/Mexico is completely open and illegals cross now more than ever. 2)With so many combined agencies that is a clusterf-ck in itself. 3)Katrina terrible response =homeland insecurity. 4)It now leaves one leader in charge of it so what he says goes. 5)It is based on a belief of total oversight on the activities of our citizens an Orwellian concept think of that all Seeing Eye,you know like that one on the back of a dollar bill.Smile cause you are always on camera in the public eye! As far as 5 positives talk to those Elitist Gov. Officials about that they know its all about the Benjamins and Power!!

Answer 3

Well, G.W. Bush founded this organization to protect the home-front. After 9/11 and two Iraq wars, he decided we needed a "C.T.U." here protecting us right here at home to make sure things like 9/11 wouldn't happen again all over here. So EVERYDAY wouldn't be 9/11.

People like FBI, the CIA and the Secret Service stationed right around the edges of the USA ready to protect us all. I wasn't a G.W. fan--but I think it was a good idea to found such an organization. Right up there with JFK's conception of the U.N. and Abe Lincoln's conception of Early Republicanism and Emancipation Proclamation.

So... there....


--Sincere As Always, Dane Youssef

Answer 4

A big joke and a massive pork barrel spending project to the tune of $60B a year.

Answer 5

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/homeland%20security
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeland_Security_Act