The occurrence of the 2011 terror attack led the US government to come up with various laws that can be used to protect the US citizens from terror attacks. The immediate action taken by the then President was to come up with a security law that granted immense military powers geared towards handling terror attack issues in the country. Therefore, the President passed and enacted the Homeland Security Act of 2002 following the aftermaths of the September 2011 terror attack that gripped the country. The enactment of the law led to the formation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Therefore, this paper examines the major functions of the DHS and how it applies to maintaining security in the US.
The development of the Homeland Security Act led to the creation of the US Department of Homeland Security and a cabinet-level position of the Secretary of Homeland Security (Moss, Shellhammer, & Berman, 2009) . The main function of DHS was to ensure increased security within the US and to protect the nation and its citizens from any terror attacks. The Act also established the DHS as an executive department of the United States headed by the Secretary of Homeland Security who must be appointed by the president (Homeland Security Act of 2002, 2015) . Its main function was to create the DHS and empower it with the roles and responsibilities of protecting the nations from possible terror attacks.
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The acts require that the secretary works with other law enforcement officers to conduct effective surveillance activities within the nation to ensure that the country was safe from local and international terror attacks. The act also aims to reduce the vulnerability of the United States and its citizens from terror activities, terror attacks, and terrorism. The main aim of the Act was to ensure that the leaders came up to a department that could ensure that the nation was secured from both local and international terror attacks. The occurrence of the September 2011 proved to the leaders of the nation that the country was at high risks of being attacked by terrorists from both within and out of the nation. Therefore, the act led to the creation of the DHS which was to ensure that they reduce the vulnerability of the US from terror attacks and terror activities.
Similarly, the Act granted powers to the Secretary of Homeland Security to reduce the vulnerability of the US from terrorism by monitoring its border and immigrations issues (Congress.Gov, 2012) . The leaders believed that unsupervised open borders led to the proliferation of illegal immigrants into the country which also increased the risk of further terror attacks and terrorist activities within the US soil. As such, the DHS was supposed to work hand in hand with border security personnel to ensure that they screen the people coming in and out of the country effectively to help reduce the possibilities of another terror attack in the nation. The law requires then to check other immigrants already in the nation and work with immigration officers to investigate the authenticity of their being in the country. Moreover, they are supposed to effect immigration laws with the immigration officers to ensure that every person coming into the US is legitimate and have legitimate reasons that do not pose any danger to the country and its people.
Similarly, the leaders also realized that the need to secure the country from terrorism and terror attacks was broad and required increased functions. Therefore, aside from creating a position of the secretary of homeland security, the Act also required the HSA to create positions for undersecretaries in charge of infrastructure protection and information analysis, science and technology, border and transportation security, emergency preparedness and response among other dockets. This shows that the Act also handed over more duties to the DHS. For example a part of securing the border and ensuring legal migration into the country, the HSA also required the DHS to take care of emergency issues that might occur in the region.
Therefore, the DHS was charged with the duty of evaluating possible emergencies such as terror attacks, floods, fires, hurricanes, and other emergencies that could be found within the country (Congress.Gov, 2012) . The DHS also has the duty to come up with effective response methods that they and other teams can use to help deal with the occurrences of such emergencies. Where possible, the law requires the Department of Homeland Security to monitor national activities and predict the possibilities of an impending disaster and put plans and measures in place to help deal with such disasters should they takes place.
The DHS is also charged with the responsibility of information and security surveillance to help them protect the nation from terrorism activities (Congress.Gov, 2012) . They have the power to use available resources to conduct intelligence surveillance in their borders, within the country, and in other nations that seem to pose security issues to their US and come up with effective methods to counter such terror and security threats to the homeland. Moreover, the act requires that the DHS should work with local and foreign intelligence officers to ensure that they conduct surveillance that they can use for protecting the people in their country. Moreover, the law awarded the DHS the power to act on any intelligence information provided to them that lead to the ability of the department to secure the country from terror attacks and other terror activities both in and out of the states.
The DHS has the right to receive information and evaluate it to find out if the available information poses any security threats to the people in the nation (Homeland Security Act of 2002, 2015) . On the same note, they have the power to use available information to their advantage in securing the country. Information security also ensures that the DHS control and evaluate how sharing of information can pose a danger to the people of the nation and the country as a whole (Moss, Shellhammer, & Berman, 2009) . In terms of security, the Homeland Security Act of 2002 also transferred the power of the US secret service to the DHS. Thus, the law requires that the DHS oversee the functions of the secret service and work with them in ensuring security to the personnel protected by the secret service team.
Similarly, the DHS also has the powers to consider technology and scientific advancement and ensure that such developments do not pose issues of attacks within the US jurisdictions (Congress.Gov, 2012) . They need to consider how the people use technological advancement and see if their actions present cyber threats not only to the citizens but also to the nation in general. On the same not, the Act awards the DHS the powers to investigate and elect professionals with expertise in the scientific areas to monitor scientific creations and evaluate any possible problems that the creations can have in the country.
In summary, Homeland Security Act of 2002 led to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security charged with the powers of ensuring security and protecting the nation from any security threats such as terrorism and terror attacks. The law gives the DS the powers to monitor activities such as immigration, information, transport, science, technology, and border security to ensure that these activities to not overlook security needs in the country. Moreover, the law also grants the DHS the powers to ensure security measures within the nation.
References
Congress.Gov. (2012). H.R.5005 - Homeland Security Act of 2002. Washington: US Congress.
HomelandSecurityActof2002. (2015). Homeland Security Act of 2002. Washington: Homeland Security.
Moss, M., Shellhammer, C., & Berman, D. (2009). The Stafford Act and Priorities for Reform ∗ . Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Volume 6, Issue 1 , 1-23.
