The December 2019 issue of Homeland Security Affairs features a research article proposing a new paradigm for dealing with transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), an essay reviewing an important new book on catastrophic hurricane response, a research article which provides a premortem analysis of the security threats posed by climate change, and an essay reviewing a…
Volume XV
Lines, Flows and Transnational Crime: Toward a Revised Approach to Countering the Underworld of Globalization
By Alan Bersin and Lars Karlsson Abstract This article proposes a “paradigm shift” in the means and methods of combating transnational criminal activity. It contends that global illicit flows, engineered by organized crime on a massive scale alongside lawful trade and travel, represent a principal challenge to public safety and civic order. It proposes further…
Book Review: Out of the Whirlwind; Supply and Demand After Hurricane Maria by Philip J. Palin
By Kristopher Thornburg Suggested Citation Thornburg, Kristopher. Review of Out of the Whirlwind: Supply and Demand After Hurricane Maria, by Philip Palin. Homeland Security Affairs 15, Article 7. www.hsaj.org/articles/15492 The 2017 hurricane season left wide swaths of destruction across parts of the southern United States. Puerto Rico was hit the hardest, beginning with a glancing…
Climate Security: A Pre-Mortem Approach to a Sustainable Global Future
By John Comiskey and Michael Larrañaga Abstract Climate change is a viable threat to U.S. homeland security and is likely the most significant risk facing humanity. A consensus of the scientific community concludes that climate change is occurring, is relatively irreversible, and that aggressive mitigation of climate-change drivers is necessary. Climate-change impacts include surface-air temperature…
Book Review: How to Think About Homeland Security: The Imperfect Intersection of National Security and Public Safety by David H. McIntyre
by Caleb S. Cage Suggested Citation Cage, Caleb. (2019) Review of How to Think about Homeland Security: The Imperfect Intersection of National Security and Public Safety by David H. McIntyre. Homeland Security Affairs 15, Article 9. https://www.hsaj.org/articles/15587. Since its relatively recent establishment, homeland security as an organizing concept for government services has received its share…
Capability Gaps Threatening CBP’s Present and Future Operations
By Thomas P.M. Barnett Abstract Thanks to an enduring burst of domestic populism, the United States is knee-deep in a tumultuous renegotiation of its superpower relationship with the world. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) faces two possible paths: transformation or trivialization. The agency either embraces the mission-creep demanded by this moment or surrenders responsibility to…
Book Review: Spying: Assessing US Domestic Intelligence Since 9/11 By Darren E. Tromblay
By Erik Dahl Suggested Citation Dahl, Erik. (2019) Review of Spying: Assessing US Domestic Intelligence Since 9/11 by Darren E. Tromblay. Homeland Security Affairs 15, Article 4. https://www.hsaj.org/articles/15391 . This book is a welcome addition to the rather small literature on domestic and homeland intelligence in the United States. It will interest more than just…
How to Learn About Homeland Security
By Christopher Bellavita Abstract The article describes how one can begin to learn about homeland security. Starting with institutionally approved, rather than objectively-tested and validated, foundational knowledge may provide academic order, but the order is achieved at the cost of constraining prematurely what homeland security could become. The method presented in this essay starts with…
How FEMA Could Lose America’s Next Great War
Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum (If You Want Peace, Prepare for War) By H. Quinton Lucie Abstract The United States lacks a comprehensive strategy and supporting programs to support and defend the population of the United States during times of war and to mobilize, sustain and expand its defense industrial base while under attack from…
Incentivizing Cyber Security Investment in the Power Sector Using An Extended Cyber Insurance Framework
By Jack Rosson, Mason Rice, Juan Lopez, and David Fass Abstract Collaboration between the DHS Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and public- sector partners has revealed that a dearth of cyber- incident data combined with the unpredictability of cyber attacks have contributed to a shortfall in first-party cyber insurance protection in the critical infrastructure…