Benjamin Berger EXECUTIVE SUMMARY To protect sensitive information, certain positions in the federal government require candidates to obtain and maintain a security clearance. Security clearances help ensure that an individual is trustworthy and capable of handling sensitive information, which has the potential of harming the United States if divulged. From 2014 to 2018, the backlog…
CHDS Theses: Executive Summaries
Smart Strategies for Effectively Managing Entertainment Districts
Charles Penn EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Entertainment districts are—and will continue to be—a significant homeland security concern due to the large numbers of people who gather at these locations. In the United States, people are fortunate to have the opportunity to attend a variety of activities ranging from sporting events to cultural events to parades, where they…
Disruptive Emergent Systems in Disaster Response
Kristopher Thornburg EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The 2017 hurricanes in the southern United States provided an impetus for wider social technology use than during previous disaster responses. Hurricane survivors rapidly turned to social media for help while physically unaffected social media users crowdsourced crisis maps to generate complex and powerful emergent information systems. Volunteers unaffiliated with first…
U.S. Counterterrorism Narrative: A Way Forward
Madeline Kristoff EXECUTIVE SUMMARY While it seems to be widely agreed upon that the U.S. counterterrorism narrative is failing, little empirical evidence is available describing the U.S. counter-narrative strategy since 9/11 or an analytical framework for measuring its success or failure. This research is designed to contribute toward filling that gap by investigating the effectiveness…
Social Media Screening of Homeland Security Job Applicants and the Implications on Free Speech Rights
Denis Sweeney EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Homeland security employers (e.g., police departments, fire departments, and federal agencies) that engage in social media screening (SMS) of their job applicants should be aware of the risk of infringing on the applicants’ free-speech rights and take steps to mitigate that risk. The law on free-speech protections for homeland security job…
Puerto Rico’s Homeland Security Readiness: Redesigning the Island’s Power Grid to Improve Its Resiliency
Juan Alicia EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Resiliency is the ability to bounce back from adversity and return to the previous norm. This term not only describes a quality in people but also the ability of objects or places to recover to their original shape or function. In the case of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA),…
A Framework for National Guard Employment in the Homeland
Paul Jara EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The country’s active, reserve, and National Guard forces . . . must continue to enhance their ability to provide support to civil authorities, not only to help prevent terrorism but also to respond to and recover from man-made and natural disasters that do occur. —Homeland Security Council U.S. strategic guidance to…
Everyone is Doing It: The Effectiveness of Body-worn Cameras Beyond Randomized Controlled Trials
Robert Lawler EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Over the last decade, police departments across the United States have come under escalating pressure from the public, the media, civil rights organizations, and politicians to increase the accountability of their officers and departmental transparency, particularly regarding the use of force. In response to this pressure, many of the nation’s law…
Measuring Performance within Anti-Gang Task Forces in Texas
Laura Jamison EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Texas Anti-Gang Task Forces (TAGs) were initiated by the state of Texas in 2013 to combine law enforcement efforts to counter criminal activities posed by violent gangs. The relationship between violent gangs and Mexican drug cartels is a significant problem in Texas, so and the mere existence of the six TAG…
Overstays: The Lesser-Known Illegal Immigration Issue
Brian Heslin EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The goal of this thesis is to bring light to the lesser-reported type of “illegal immigrant” in the United States—individuals who overstay their visas’ allowed length of admission—and develop a policy to appropriately deal with this issue. By definition, illegal immigrant is applied to an individual who violates a countries laws.[1] …