Considering the shifts in disaster management, technological advancement and the strength of universities, there is high hope of expectation of more partnerships between universities and government agencies. The vast resources found in different universities have developed different expertise in technological and natural hazards. Therefore, making homeland security to have the interest to interact with university students more. Research conducted in those universities show that terrorists should be handled like another hazard and should be added as part of dangers that are being researched in the universities facilities. Terrorism has become an economic tumor always making the economy of a nation to decline. Nicholson (2005) argue that the safety measures applied to any other danger should be applied to terrorists. He went further to recommend a multi-hazard attention to be given to terrorism. In the fight to metastasize it, the government security agencies have to involve any member of the society who can be beneficial.
Academic institutions have shown their ability in serving the federal government and their state. As a result of huge amount of cash they receive from the agencies, the research they conduct has in a major way assisted American progress in many ways. The collaboration between universities and the government help to connect research findings to actual practice which are applied in different fields like disaster management, operation, and administration. Notably, university involvement has linked the practice of emergency management to be considered a subject of a higher institution of learning either certificate level or the degree level. Indeed the importance of academic community to homeland security has been supported by the government. On the other side, the private sector has also been involved in the research because they are the main victims of attacks (Nicholson). In essence, homeland security values its partnership with the universities and the private sector because they assist most in research and they give effective solutions that homeland security can effectively use in the fight against terrorists and in emergency management.
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In case of an incident that the local law enforcement authority desires to maintain control of quarantine operation, and they need equipment that they do not have the reach of like aviation, armored personnel carriers, intelligence, roadblocks, communication and related support logistics. They can obtain them through the head of the DOD. If the operation is a major one, the president of the United States will have commanded the DOD to offer assistance in the quarantined area. However, the local law enforcement authority can request the DOD on private terms. All the authorities in the United States work together in protecting human life. In that case, DOD will not cease to assist other small security bodies when an emergency that threatens human life occurs. Some emergencies if not contained in the fastest way possible can lead to loss of many lives. For example, if an infectious disease such as Ebola occurs in my local area, the expectation is that all security authorities from the local to the DOD will be here assisting each other to contain the infection (Nicholson). In United State, security authorities work together to protect life, and where required the DOD should assist the local authorities. In some cases, the condition might worsen to a level that the country will be forced to call for international authority supervision. So, before the situation is uncontrollable, the DOD is ready to contain it with all resources. That is the reason why the DOD will aid the local law enforcement authority all the resources available to conduct quarantine operation.
In the wake of terror attacks, civil libertarians make many proposals on tightening security. Many of the proposals made are however enacted long before. The fear of national security can lead civil liberty erosion that troubles the libertarians. They fear that overreaction of the national security against terrorist may affect libertarians like it has happened before in other cases. In the trials to secure human rights, libertarians may hinder security measures to be undertaken in the right way. According to the libertarians' domain, civil libertarians are primarily concerned with the relationship between the government and its citizen. When terror attacks happen, the government national security is threatened, and all government agencies seek to find a solution to the problem. In the event, some people rights are violated and also criminal life is endangered (Nicholson). In that case, civil libertarians try to fight the security agencies by violation of the personal rights. Civil libertarianism is however not a complete ideology but rather a collection of views concerning civil rights or civil liberty. Human rights have in many times put in jeopardy during wartime.
In essence, the USA PATRIOT Act was made to secure U.S. citizens against terrorism. The government, however, faces a lot of critics from human rights activists and libertarians for such actions like warrantless domestic surveillance, harsh detention, and interrogation policies. These factors had a negative impact on citizen's life. Civil libertarians were stood against Bush and his administration because of this act. Remarkably, the action taken by the administration against terrorist posed a genuine threat to citizens' personal life. And to the non-citizen who could in bad lack be caught against the anti-terrorist parameters. The tension arose between civil order and civil liberty after the USA PATRIOT Act was added in the law. The government in its orders wanted to secure citizens from terrorism while on the other hand libertarians tried to fight for individual's right. Notably, the government posed a threat to people's lives through the act, but the threat posed by the government is a bit better because the government is out trying to fight terrorism. However, libertarians argue that an individual should get protection from the government without getting any human right violated (Nicholson). In my opinion, threat caused by terrorist attacks is more severe compared to the threat posed by the government. In that case, the government should continue protecting its citizen from terrorist to counter the severe threat. Civil libertarians should still fight for human rights too so that the government should be careful when undertaking their counter-terrorism duties.
Notably, due to matters of national security, individuals require privacy protection on their details depending on their status. When one's privacy is breached, the enemy gets power to attack. Because of terrorist's threats, American citizen's details are protected by the government. Personal details have to be protected by either legislation or constitutional provisions; else, individuals will be at risk of terrorist threats. According to Nicholson, individual privacy is an act of legislature not constitution. In the constitution, privacy is not elaborated on how it should be protected. However, the legislature gives guidelines on how people's privacy should be protected. The reason why it is not possible to give everybody's privacy is that different people have different degrees of privacy. Everybody weighs the utility of own privacy by own measures. Therefore, it is fundamental to protect every individual's privacy according to their privacy requirement. For instance, rich people are prone to terrorist threats than the poor people. In that case, wealth people will call for more privacy protection than the poor. On the other hand, people of influence in the government require more privacy protection than ordinary individuals (Nicholson, 2005). However, if one discloses private information to a third party, one is answerable to the consequences, such privacy details include, property, bank details, and others vital details that can be used for threat. In my opinion, every citizen should report to the respective authority in case of the personal information breach. Privacy protection is therefore essential to everybody in the fight against terrorism.
In the wake of anti-terrorist fight, the government of United States through the Director of Defense came up with Terrorism Information Awareness Program (TIA) through the Department of Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA). The main aim of the agency was to develop a program that will capture people's personal information and detect terrorists. The data mining program was to secure citizens information and detect terrorist details. However, people thought that their information was not secure with the DOD. For instance, a politician would worry that an opponent can use the TIA program to control the will to vie. However there is no need for fear as there are other many programs that use the same data within other government organizations that detect terror too. Therefore, if TIA is maliciously used and fed with wrong information in favor of the opponent, the other programs will prove it wrong (Nicholson). Notably, it would be a great mess and failure of DOD to breach a citizen's privacy. The program working is managed by clear policy guidelines and rules. It was also enforced by the government through political, managerial and judicial oversight. In case privacy is compromised, the DOD should be held answerable. If it is used by an opponent for malicious will, the victim should use other channels such as court to get justice.
Financial records should be secured in the best way possible. Financial records can be used as a tool for setting threats by terrorists. Whether personal or corporate, financial details should be taken care. A bank or any financial institution should protect customer's information. They are also supposed to comply with the guidelines of financial record privacy. The safeguarding rules require all financial records to be kept safe. Financial details of a customer should not be disclosed unless under the legal authority or court order. The contract signed between the bank or other financial institution with their customer is that no information can be disclosed to the third party. The contract also gives the possible condition where information can be disclosed, either on the consent of the customer or depositor, or when authorized by the law to do so. If the bank discloses in other cases will be held liable (Nicholson). On the other hand, if the customer discloses financial information to a third party will be held liable for consequences henceforth. The same contract signed between the financial institution and the customer is offered to a corporation. Therefore, the privacy terms that apply to a single customer applies to a corporation too.
Terrorism is one of the major threats to the U.S. security. It has been the discussion issue for every security meeting among different agencies. On the other hand is drug trafficking which has affected some parts of the U.S. The two form a "Dangerous mix" with terrorists causing insecurity and drug trafficking affecting the economy. It is notable that drug trafficking and terrorism work together. Drug trafficking is a lucrative business making billions of dollars daily, therefore becoming the best source of terrorist funding. For example, the revolutionary armed force of Colombia has been associated with many crimes and drug trafficking while they still give Columbian police headache in controlling them. They engage in drug trafficking and crime to sponsor their terror group. In my opinion, many college students are affected by the two (Nicholson). Many get involved in drug trafficking to get paid while at long last they end up in crime. To control terrorism, security agencies need to consider destroying their source of funding including fighting drug trafficking.
In the transit industry, the most enterprise is the airport sector. In the past airport security was a private business. It was operated by companies contracted by the government agency to undertake the responsibility of airport security. However, the government realized that this sector was more prone to terrorist attack. Making the sector private created a loophole for terrorists to get a chance to transport weapons and drugs using commercial jets. The private companies were not able to protect citizens from airline hijackings. Thus the government security agencies took over the industry to try and regulate the insecurity status. In the government signed aviation and transport act that authorized government agencies to conduct security in airports railway terminus and mass transits under the homeland security. The air transport is the most endangered transport system that made the government to propose availability of air marshals in every commercial fright carrying passengers. In my point of view, the government tried to secure air transport although it is still the most vulnerable in the transport industry.
The homeland security advisory system is one of the task force that I would nominate to add in the task force. I would also recommend cybersecurity legal task for to be included. The cybersecurity task force will secure citizens against cybercrime while homeland security will handle their responsibility. The main work of advisory system gives the federal agents alerts on color-coded terrorist threats.
References
Nicholson, W. C. (Ed.). (2005). Homeland security law and policy. Charles C Thomas Publisher.
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