How Homeland Security Uses Risk Management

Risk and Consequences Essays
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Essay 1: How Homeland Security uses Risk Management
National security agencies prevent innumerable threats to the country’s safety every single day. This has been made possible by their coordinated efforts to evaluate the hazards in security, vulnerability, and repercussions and to respond appropriately. One of the various organizations working to protect national security is homeland security. Following a report from the U.S. Homeland Security Department (DHS, 2010), the department’s mandate is to prevent terrorist attacks and improve national security. Additionally, they are tasked with handling and safeguarding America’s borders, enforcing immigration regulations, defending cyberspace, guaranteeing America’s catastrophe preparedness, and developing the homeland security industry.
Each of these missions has clear targets that they work to fulfill daily. This includes but is not limited to deterring terrorist attacks, illegal entry to or use of nuclear, radiological, genetic, or chemical substances and capabilities, and mitigating risks posed to critical infrastructure, events, or leadership. DHS also controls borders, prevents the actions of transnational criminal syndicates, prevents illegal migration, mitigates risks, and ensures readiness in a disaster. The Homeland department’s resources are limited, undermining its ability to execute its mandate effectively. In this context, the department requires more resource allocation. As a result, the risk mitigation procedure impacts the resource allocation in DHS. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) executes the risk deterrence structure (Ramsay et al., 2020). The risk methodology enables DHS to identify its security objectives and challenges, which then promotes the development of a risk evaluation approach and strategies to mitigate the identified risks. The risk level is ascertained based on the threat level, the target vulnerability, and the outcomes of an attack.
With substantial budget deficits looming, the task is to figure out how to improve the integrated operation of the homeland security sector while sustaining critical investments in supporting base capacities with limited resources. Because of the numerous dangers and different sources of risk encountered in homeland security regions, this is a particular source of friction in research, development, and security infrastructure (Warrick & Durkovich, 2020). Environmental adjustment, cybersecurity, geopolitics, border protection, and terrorism are all evolving, and as a result, they are not perfectly implemented into agency operations or budgeting. Due to limited resources, it is more important than ever to prioritize homeland security mandates and functions to guide the country’s investments toward national priorities.
The level of risk information is utilized to assist the department in evaluating possible options that can be implemented to prevent the attack or lessen the level of risk. Among the choices considered is how assigning a given number of resources and implementing particular modifications affects the risk level (Ramsay et al., 2020). The information gleaned from the assessment of the options establishes the optimum choice for dealing with the threat. It also serves as the step in the management selection process that determines how resources will be distributed and used. To conclude, the model allotted permits security agencies to recognize risks, dissuade them, and mitigate the repercussions of a danger.
Evaluating risk management systems thus plays a critical role in DHS efforts to allocate scarce resources, as Warrick and Durkovich (2020) contend that these funds must be optimized. Using the model, the department can assess its strategic priorities, objectives, limitations, the hazard and level, the best approach to prevent or reduce the risk, and the amount of funding needed. This evaluation can identify the highest degree of risk, and the resources can be shifted accordingly. However, resources may occasionally be distributed to places that do not present a high level of imminent danger. As a consequence, the department is also able to give funds and participate in strategy implementation. The model enables the agency to prioritize security needs to make the most of the department’s scarce funds.
Essay 2: Difference between Homeland Security and Homeland Defense

Homeland Security

Homeland Defense

Missions

* Deter and lessen homeland susceptibility to terrorism
* Safeguard and control the boundaries.
* Administering and enforcing immigration regulations
* Protect the cyberspace
* Make sure the country is prepared to withstand a calamity
* Is in charge of border patrol.
* It helps law enforcement respond to emergencies (Ramsay et al., 2020).
* Offers assistance in disasters (FEMA)
* Guarantees vital infrastructure defense.

* Impedes, eliminates, negates, and eliminates dangers to the country that are either arbitrary or intentional and offers assistance to other civil authorities during a crisis
* Oversees the Coast Guard.
* Provides early caution via North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD)
* Alerts the armed forces
* Gives CBRNE support
* Prevention of any threat

Responsibilities

* Ensure that the country is safe, protected, and able to withstand threats like terrorist attacks and other dangers.
* Protect the environment to ensure that the interests and ambitions of American citizens and their quality of life are sustained.
* Assist a network of stakeholders in delivering homeland security with operational capabilities.
* Conduct or support R&D-related projects
* Offer guidelines for the network in the form of rules, regulations, policies, and other documents.
* Obtain the resources required by using financing and grant programs
* Help other local and state agencies in their initiatives to enhance homeland security
* Work with communities to ensure their safety.

* Countering any security threats posed
* Preserving the homeland security
* Protect the environment to guarantee that American citizens’ interests and ambitions are safeguarded (Ramsay et al., 2020).
* Mitigate any vulnerability to safeguard the independence, prosperity, and liberty of America nation.

Strategies

Is civil oriented

Is military focused

I define homeland security as a federal agency established to safeguard America against threats. The DHS has broad responsibilities, including cybersecurity, aviation security, emergency support, and border control. As a civil branch that guarantees homeland security. It is a body that, to provide security, combines several federal, state, and municipal departments. These non-military branches can avert dangers, anticipate them, dissuade them, and fight any attack against America by collaborating effectively (Lewis, 2019). They may pool their resources, improve their operations and procedures, and improve their communication through this method of operation, which unites about twenty-two government services, allowing them to identify dangers and take appropriate action quickly. Based on the table above, it can be derived that the strategies for homeland security include but are not limited to counterterrorism, securing the country’s approaches and territorial integrity, supporting resilience and preparedness, and enhancing DHS personnel capabilities. On the other hand, homeland defense is safeguarding the country’s territory, critical security or defense assets and resources against external aggression and vulnerabilities, and domestic populations.
Because they share many responsibilities and objectives, it cannot be easy to distinguish between Homeland Security and Homeland Defense. People tend to use descriptive rather than legal definitions to describe them. They aim to safeguard America but use the resources available differently because of the Constitution’s legal requirements and their respective missions. Excluding the National Guard, whose special characteristics we will discuss later, assets from the municipal and state levels are scarce and a component of the Homeland Security framework (Lewis, 2019). Local concerns come first in terms of homeland security. The direct result of a terrorist assault will be felt by the first responders and the local community, and they must safeguard them. The incident of 9/11 and the Commission Report led to the establishment of DHS, and the restructuring of federal agencies modified the pre-9/11 lack of coordination between the two and shifted the nation’s attention to homeland security.
Essay 3: Critical Infrastructure and Capability of Infrastructure Protection Program
The phrase “critical infrastructure” refers to resources and systems within the country that are so crucial that their destruction or immobilization might have a catastrophic effect on the country’s security, economics, public safety and health, environment, and other factors. Water supplies, the electrical grid, nuclear power plants, cyber networks, and other important national assets are crucial (MacDonald & Hunter, 2019). Because it significantly impacts the country, the nation’s capability to secure its essential infrastructure is vital. To guarantee the safety and resilience of the country’s critical infrastructure in the event of security concerns, this section will review the program th...