INTRODUCTION
HOMELAND SECURITY: A CONCERN AND A ROLE FOR EVERYONE
“Tell them that this is just the trailer. Just wait till you see the rest of the movie.”
“It’s a small example. A preview.”
“The rest of the film remains to be seen.”
Mobile phone call by terrorists in Mumbai, India, before they murdered hostages, November 2008
“The rest of the film remains to be seen.” They were not talking about a Bollywood film. From November 26 to 29, 2008, murder squads trained by Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LT known as the “Army of the Righteous”) fanned out across Mumbai, India’s most populous city, armed with assault rifles and hand grenades. They received orders via cell phone from a handler in Pakistan, who relayed media reports of the chaos while directing the murderers to their next targets.
“Kill them. Kill them all. Do it now.” That was the last command given to one assault team. Before all the terrorists were killed or captured, they murdered and wounded hundreds of innocent victims.
Mumbai’s day of terror is another moment the world will not soon forget. In India the attack is referred to simply as November 26 or 26/11, based on the shorthand of 9/11 used to recall the horrific terrorist strikes against the United States on September 11, 2001.
WHAT IS HOMELAND SECURITY? WHY CARE?
The Pakistani-based LT is not just India’s problem. Like al-Qaida, the masterminds behind 9/11, the group has declared its intent to go global and has sworn to attack the United States. In 2010 U.S. citizen David Coleman Headley pled guilty to federal charges involving LT. The Chicago resident had ties to the group allegedly going back to 2002, when he attended an LT training camp. In the years following, he scouted targets worldwide, including doing reconnaissance for the Mumbai attack. And Headley was not the first American linked to LT after 9/11. “Very few things worry me as much as the strength and ambition of LT,” declared Daniel Benjamin, the State Department’s coordinator for counterterrorism.
LT is not alone in its hatred of the United States. More than 40 plots aimed at killing Americans in the homeland have been thwarted by U.S. authorities since 9/11. This includes the aborted 2009 Christmas Day bombing, when Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old engineering student living in London, attempted to detonate a bomb hidden in his underwear as his plane began to land in Detroit. The list also includes the failed May 2010 attack when Faisal Shahzad, a naturalized citizen of Pakistani decent, tried to explode a car bomb in New York City’s Times Square.
The near misses demonstrate why the rationale for the American homeland security enterprise established after 9/11 remains. A decade later, the United States remains a terrorist target. The nature of the threat, however, has changed. The thwarted attacks, as well as plots not foiled, such as 2009’s Little Rock recruiting center attack and Fort Hood shooting rampage people represent the array of terrorist threats facing the United States. Some were directed by transnational groups. Others were homegrown schemes by individuals “self-radicalized” in the United States or trained overseas.
To be sure, transnational terrorism was never the sole threat to the homeland, though after 9/11 the tendency was to define the scope of homeland security in a narrow manner. The very term homeland security was not widely acknowledged before the September 11 attacks. The law that established the Department of Homeland Security the next year defined the department’s mission as
1. Preventing terrorist attacks within the United States
2. Reducing the vulnerability of the United States to terrorism
3. Minimizing the damage, and assisting in the recovery, from terrorist attacks that occur
Despite specific focus on terrorism in the law, after 9/11 homeland security efforts came to comprise general preparedness under the “all-hazards” doctrine, which focuses on common efforts to prepare for both terrorist attacks and other disasters, natural or human-made, such as hurricanes and accidental chemical spills.
In recent years, threats other than terrorism have been seen as increasingly important. In 2005 Hurricane Katrina swept through three southern states, affecting an area over 90,000 square miles and disrupting the lives of millions. Katrina and other large-scale disasters both in the United States and overseas, including the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the earthquake and tsunami that swept through Japan in 2011, were powerful reminders of how even the most modern societies can become fragile in the wake of large-scale disasters.
Along with a greater focus on disasters, the U.S. government became increasingly concerned about border security and transnational criminal activity. Mexican criminal cartels dominate the U.S. illicit drug market and are prominent in human smuggling, gun trafficking, and money laundering. As the cartels fight for control, they increasingly threaten both Mexico’s stability and public safety in the United States. Criminal organizations virtually rule parts of Mexico, and violence and murder are spilling across the border. In 2010 alone, the death toll in Mexico exceeded 15,000.
Growing concerns over natural disasters and transnational criminal activities have significantly broadened the concept of homeland security. The 2010 U.S. National Security Strategy defined homeland security as an effort to “identify and interdict threats; deny hostile actors the ability to operate within our borders; maintain effective control of our physical borders; safeguard lawful trade and travel into and out of the United States; disrupt and dismantle transnational terrorist, and criminal organizations; and ensure our national resilience in the face of the threat and hazards.” This is far more expansive than the mandate established in the 2002 law creating DHS.
In fact, there remains debate about what rightly belongs under the umbrella of the homeland security enterprise. That is not surprising. Many activities that come under homeland security overlap with public safety, traditional law enforcement and fire protection functions. Homeland security may also include aspects of public health, and civil defense, which traditionally meant protecting civilians from military attack. In the private sector, aspects of physical security (safeguarding physical assets, employees, and customers), business continuity (ensuring capacity to continue operations in the face of disruptions), and disaster recovery (means to reconstitute operations after a disaster) intersect with homeland security. Additionally, many individuals involved in these specific tasks, from police officers who provide public safety to plant managers responsible for disaster recovery, are the same personnel involved in other homeland security operations. As a result, activities of these various disciplines interweave and overlap. In many respects, homeland security is becoming a catch-all term for domestic security.
The practice and structure of the homeland security enterprise have also changed substantially in the last decade. DHS underwent a major reorganization in 2005. In addition, there have been many changes to homeland security programs at all levels of government and the private sector.
WHY A NEW EDITION?
Changes in threats and the response of governments and communities demanded a new edition of Homeland Security. The revised text documents major developments since the first publication in 2005. In addition, this edition reflects lessons learned by the authors from working with officials at various levels of government and the private sector, both in the United States and abroad; the exploding body of literature on the homeland security enterprise that has poured forth since 9/11, from new academic research to government reports on disasters like Hurricane Katrina and security concerns such as homegrown radicalization; and events of recent years, from American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to dramatic terrorist attacks across the globe and natural threats from earthquakes to pandemics.
Not only are the natures of homeland security threats and missions expanding and evolving, but so is the character of contemporary society. In 2005, for example, social networking tools (from text messaging to web sites like Facebook) were in their infancy. Today, they are a ubiquitous part of the modern world, playing a role in terrorist recruiting and disaster response alike. Homeland security practitioners need a more expansive tool kit to deal with the challenges of the discipline today. This edition provides a guide to those tools.
There has also been no end to controversies surrounding homeland security, from concerns civil liberties and profiling to debates on border security and rants over airport security. So too there have been accusations that “political correctness” and politics are preventing Washington from facing the toughest challenges head on. Some doubt the basic efficacy of the homeland security enterprise, or argue that like many “big government” initiatives it has bogged down in bureaucracy, red tape, fraud, waste, and abuse. These criticisms cannot be ignored. This edition seeks to highlight major controversies that have emerged over the last decade and anticipate some debates to come.
WHAT HAS NOT CHANGED?
The first edition of Homeland Security began with a very different quote. “Are you guys ready? Let’s roll.” That battle cry came from Todd Beamer, a passenger on United Airlines Flight 93.
On September 11, 2001, Flight 93 left Newark International Airport bound for San Francisco. Shortly after takeoff, a team of four terrorists seized control of the plane. From cell phone conversations the passengers and crew learned that other planes had been hijacked as well and crashed into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, DC. Passenger Tom Burnett called his wife and reassured her, “Don’t worry. We’re going to do something.” Burnett, fellow passenger Todd Beamer, and others rushed the terrorists. While they tried to take control of the cockpit, the plane crashed into a field in rural Pennsylvania, killing all aboard. The courage of the passengers and crew of Flight 93, however, prevented an even greater tragedy. It is suspected that the terrorists’ target was the nation’s Capitol building or the White House.
The courageous acts of Flight 93’s passengers demonstrate that homeland security is a national responsibility. Most of these responsibilities do not demand acts of exceptional bravery and sacrifice. Indeed, many tasks of homeland security are mundane and ubiquitous. They are nevertheless critical. They affect the personal safety and freedom of every American and impact every aspect of the nation’s political, financial, transportation, health, and legal systems. There are few issues more important for each and every citizen to understand. All of us need a foundation in homeland security.
Homeland Security is definitely not just what the Department of Homeland Security does. The responsibility for achieving national homeland security objectives falls upon every segment of American society, starting with federal, state, and local agencies, a vast and overlapping patchwork of more than 87,000 organizations.
Virtually all public servants—police officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, municipal workers, public health officials, prosecuting attorneys, council persons, mayors, governors, congresspersons, and employees at every federal agency—take part in protecting the country.
Physical assets that serve as the foundation of the American way of life—our governance, economic vitality, and free civil society—are a vital part of homeland security as well. Agriculture, food, water, public health, emergency services, government, the defense industrial base, information and telecommunications, energy, transportation, banking and finance, chemicals and hazardous materials, postal and shipping, and key assets such as national monuments, nuclear power plants, dams, government buildings, and commercial facilities must be protected as much as individual Americans.
Because an estimated 85 percent of critical infrastructure is owned by the private sector, American corporations and other commercial organizations play a central role in protecting the homeland. National homeland security efforts aim to coordinate and focus these public and private organizations, along with the citizenry, by providing common priorities and principles and direct national activities.
Finally, everyday Americans must do their part—whether it is watching for suspicious activities; caring for themselves, friends, and neighbors in the wake of a disaster; volunteering as a member of service organizations; or exercising the rights and responsibilities of citizenship—ensuring the government strikes the right balance of safety, security, and freedom for all. Caring about homeland security is not an option, but a civic obligation. Americans must understand the issues that confront our nation and do their part to defend both security and civil liberties. Every American has a role to play.
A BOOK FOR PROFESSIONALS AND CITIZENS
Whether they are a government official coordinating a response to a terrorist act, an emergency responder rolling on a call, a citizen reporting a suspicious incident, a business leader deciding how best to protect employees, or a voter struggling with a controversial issue, all will benefit from a deeper understanding of homeland security issues. Homeland Security provides essential information for
• Federal, state, and local government leaders and managers
• International partners
• Emergency responders
• Public safety and public health officials
• the Armed Forces
• Immigration and border security personnel
• Business executives
• Private security personnel
• Business continuity and disaster recovery professionals
• Concerned citizens
• Volunteers
• College and University Students
• Voters
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
While the book explores both theoretical and historical underpinnings of its topics, it is not primarily a work of theory or history. Homeland Security is a practical textbook and reference source to help readers understand real-life situations, existing programs, and current policies. The chapters of the book include essential information on
• Tools for understanding and managing the homeland security enterprise
• Important government and private sector organizations involved in homeland security—what they do and how they work, and sometimes don’t work, together
• The most dangerous threats facing our nation
• Tactics and weapons terrorists plan to use against us, including cyberterrorism and other modern dangers
• The truth behind the hype about weapons of mass destruction
• Practical resources to help readers protect themselves from disasters and assist in the prevention of terrorism
This text provides four core elements of knowledge required to understand the challenge of protecting the homeland.
Part 1 covers how we got here from there, outlining America’s traditional approach to domestic security, the evolution of an unprecedented terrorist threat that led to the September 11 attacks, and the nation’s response to the events of 9/11.
Part 2 contains the tool kit—the organizations, structures, strategies, and concepts that must be mastered to understand the homeland security enterprise.
Part 3 describes the threats—the dangers that homeland security confronts, from terrorist gunmen to WMD to natural disasters.
Part 4 examines homeland security in action—the various activities and programs employed to deal with challenges outlined in the previous section.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Homeland Security is designed as a text for both academic and training courses in homeland security and terrorism.
Chapters are presented in the order necessary to build a full conceptual foundation of the topic. Each chapter, however, stands alone, providing key learning objectives and a chapter quiz. Material in each chapter provides sufficient information to master the learning objectives and answer the questions posed at the end.
Chapters also contain “From the Source” and “Issues” features. “From the Source” provides excerpts from actual documents that influence homeland security policies. “Issues” features frame controversial questions regarding various aspects of homeland security that remain subjects of debate. Both are provided to stimulate additional discussion on the learning objectives.
Appendices provide detailed additional information of interest to practitioners and general readers alike.
A LASTING CHALLENGE
Protecting the nation is an enduring responsibility. We will need homeland security forever. In the years ahead, many Americans may find themselves playing roles they never expected. Most will meet their obligations in quiet ways. Some will be called upon to display conspicuous heroism, as shown by the emergency responders at the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the passengers aboard Flight 93, and the U.S. military and intelligence forces now battling terrorism around the world. All will need as much knowledge as possible to be successful. Knowledge is the first and most important tool. It is in that spirit that Homeland Security is presented.