Thesis Proposal

Exploring the Efficacy of Community-Based Approaches in Enhancing Homeland Security Resilience A master’s thesis Submitted to the Faculty of American Public University System by Student Name Here In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Homeland Security Month Year Capstone Professor: Dr. Faculty Name Here Introduction Statement of the Problem Terrorism continues to pose significant risks to global security and requires innovative measures and deterrence efforts. Deterrence efforts entail measures tailored to influence the adversaries’ sense of risk, decision-making outcomes, and cost-benefit assessments (Johnson, 2023). Most of these deterrence efforts focus on understanding the enemies’ priorities, perceptions, strategic objectives, and interests – mostly failing to capture the counter-terrorism strategies at the grassroots levels. The United States government, after the September 11, 2001 attacks, pursued a comprehensive counterterrorism policy dominated by intelligence and military operations. These policies have largely ignored the potential role of local communities in dealing with the root causes of radicalization. It lies in the fact that while counter-terrorism strategies that followed after 9/11 have successfully prevented or defeated terrorist elements on several occasions, these same counter-terrorism strategies were unable to succeed in engaging grassroots levels in their war against terror, leading to a fragile security architecture that tends to miss out on early signs pointing towards radicalization (Guler & Demir, 2024). The research aims to analyze community resilience as a preventive effort against terrorist activities and the step to which U.S. counter-terrorism policy can or may integrate local acts within a broader strategy for national security. Purpose Statement This research will explore the role that community resilience can play in countering terrorism in the United States, especially since September 11. This research has explored how U.S. counter-terrorism policies have developed community-oriented approaches, pointing out shortcomings and areas of improvement. The specific case studies of community-led interventions and policy documents to be analyzed through academic literature use a qualitative approach. Key stakeholder interviews of local officials and law enforcement will provide insight into best practices and challenges experienced in implementing community-based strategies. This comprehensive analysis, therefore, aims to develop an understanding of the resilience-security relationship and informs policymakers on integrating local processes into national security frameworks to ensure an effective counter-terrorism strategy within the U.S. Research Questions Research question 1: How does enhancing community resilience contribute to preventing terrorism in the United States? Research question 2: How effective have United States (U.S.) counterterrorism strategies been in mitigating the risks and impacts of terrorism within the U.S. since the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)? Research question 3: What are some recommendations to improve the counterterrorism strategies and programmatic efforts within the DHS? Literature Review Community resilience has become a critical concept in counter-terrorism policies, testifying how communities could adapt to adversities and recover after such tragedies. Irasanti et al. (2023) used a quantitative-centered cross-sectional research approach. They noted that a resilient community can be assessed based on key dimensions: temporal, capital, strength, as well as level of attainment. Fan and Lyu (2021) explored content analysis on two decades of community resilience research to establish how it works as a mitigating factor in building up the capacities of recovery within communities. Synthesizing the emergent themes of various international studies, they have identified trust-building, social unity, and local engagement as crucial factors. These findings highlight the fact that resilient communities have the highest chances of responding to and countering a process of radicalization, thereby preventing violent extremism by building environments of inclusivity and collective action. Traditional U.S. counterterrorism efforts primarily rely on intelligence gathering, surveillance, and military interventions. Such measures have been proven to counter significant external threats but are not so helpful in fighting a war against homegrown terrorism. Guler and Demir (2024) conducted a post-9/11 qualitative policy analysis of United States counter-terrorism policy USA by comparing the policy objectives to what was achieved. Therefore, successfully, they failed to collaborate with local stakeholders, and the absence of the integration of the community-based approaches has led to the deviation of these policies as weak. Such a large gap can only be served by equalizing national policies and programs and local community actions. Violent extremism results from marginalization, lack of opportunities, and economic inequalities. To identify these, the present systematic literature review studies focused on violent extremism and radicalization (Stephens et al., 2021). Their work presented these shortfalls and indicated that further work needs to be done to reverse these qualities that erode women’s well-being by addressing their root causes through localized campaigns that promote social and economic justice for women. Specifying key aspects of the phenomenon, Stephens et al. showed through data from the reviewed literature and cases that community engagement is an important area in counter-extremism and sustainable security. The Department of Homeland Security (2024) highlighted that the...