Download the full issue. The articles and essays in this issue of Homeland Security Affairs all reflect – in some manner – on how we, as a nation, approach the process of homeland security. Ranging from specific suggestions for procedures and systems to more philosophical discourses on guiding principles, each author (or set of authors)…
Volume VI
Organizational Innovations in Counterterrorism: Lessons for Cyber-security, Human Trafficking, and Other Complex National Missions
Daniel R. Langberg ABSTRACT: Today’s national security environment demands whole-of-government approaches to complex national missions ranging from combating terrorism and trafficking in persons to securing cyberspace. These and many other twenty-first-century security challenges require an agile and integrated response; however, our national security system is organized along functional lines (diplomatic, military, intelligence, law enforcement, etc.)…
Threat-based Response Patterns for Emergency Services: Developing Operational Plans, Policies, Leadership, and Procedures for a Terrorist Environment
Robert T. Mahoney ABSTRACT: Emergency services are in the front lines of responding to terrorism and are directly threatened. Current response patterns are based on routine emergencies and insufficient to meet new WMD threats. These departments must ensure security of their personnel, critical assets, re-define allocation of resources, prepare for crisis leadership, and develop training…
Homeland Insecurity: Thinking About CBRN Terrorism
Al Mauroni ABSTRACT: This essay examines the threat of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) terrorism and specifically what the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has done to address this threat. The author suggests that DHS has erred by using DOD planning scenarios and DOD concepts for CBRN defense that are not easily applied to…
Natural Security for a Variable and Risk-filled World
Raphael Sagarin ABSTRACT: The twenty-first-century faces a range of severe threats to security including conflicts with non-state actors, emerging diseases, natural disasters, cyber-attacks, and climate change. This diverse set of problems would benefit from a common solution framework that can illuminate their root causes and be applied broadly to security analysis and practice. One such…
More is Better: The Analytic Case for a Robust Suspicious Activity Reports Program
James E. Steiner ABSTRACT: The U.S. government defines a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) as “official documentation of observed behavior that may be indicative of intelligence gathering or preoperational planning related to terrorism, criminal, or other illicit intention.” The homeland security, law enforcement, and intelligence communities formally recognize the value and usefulness of SAR in identifying,…
Building Resilient Communities: A Preliminary Framework for Assessment
Patricia H. Longstaff, Nicholas J. Armstrong, Keli Perrin, Whitney May Parker, and Matthew A. Hidek ABSTRACT: There is a growing need in the fields of homeland security and disaster management for a comprehensive, yet useful approach to building resilient communities. This article moves beyond the ongoing debate over definitions and presents a preliminary framework for…
Homeland Security and Support for Multiculturalism, Assimilation, and Omniculturalism Policies among Americans
Fathali Moghaddam and James Breckenridge ABSTRACT: Although Americans’ views concerning illegal immigration have garnered enormous media and pundit attention, this article argues that policy preferences concerning legal immigrants with diverse racial and ethnic origins deserve the attention of homeland security professionals. Using a representative probability sample of more than 4,000 Americans, the study presented here…
Notes from the Editor (Vol. VI, Iss. 2)
Download the full issue. Academic homeland security programs have proliferated in the past eight years, with more than 270 colleges and universities in the United States offering certificates and degrees in homeland security and related areas. How have (and are) these programs developing? What goes into creating a viable homeland security degree, whether at the…
Homeland Security-Related Education and the Private Liberal Arts College
Gregory Moore, Kelley Cronin, Mary Breckenridge, and John Hatzadony ABSTRACT: Small private liberal arts colleges enjoy certain advantages when developing new academic programs, such as in homeland security-related education. These institutions offer students the opportunity to acquire a broad-based education in order to gain a holistic view of the world, a critical need in this…