Homeland security: overview and policy frameworks

¶ … Homeland security [...] natural barrier to communications between agencies and jurisdictions. Homeland security agencies have to learn to work together, sharing information and intelligence to truly keep America safe today.

With the formation of the Homeland Security Department of the Federal Government after 9/11, many government agencies came together under one broad roof, and they had to learn how to communicate effectively and share information. When the department first formed, it was quite clear that all these agencies, from the Coast Guard to the Border Patrol, had to change the way they communicated and cooperated. One writer notes, "Admiral Thad Allen, Coast Guard Commandant, met with the fellows to discuss the mission of the department and the goals to improve cross-component communication" (Huang, 2007). They also created Team DHS in an effort to create effective leadership throughout the department, and to develop a core mission statement and strategy for working together. Author Huang continues, "The DHS Fellows Program is a catalyst for promoting a common identity and culture throughout the department and ensuring that Team DHS continues to meet its mission of protecting the homeland by developing a pipeline of candidates who are ready to assume key leadership roles" (Huang, 2007). However, the agency is far from perfect on the communications level, as many experts will agree.

From the inception of the agency, it has been difficult for the many agencies, often used to working alone and in secrecy, to learn to share information and intelligence. Another author notes, "One constant thread through the post-9/11 investigations was a lack of coordination and communication between the FBI and CIA (mostly, the lack of coordination and communication was internal to the FBI)" (Ranum, 2004, p. 60). These are not agencies known for sharing information or intelligence, and surmounting this problem has proven to be difficult, since their ways of doing things have been embedded for so long. One of the biggest problems with interagency communication is the computer technologies between agencies. Essentially, they do not coordinate because each agency uses different computer technologies. Author Ranum continues, "That's how the federal government's computer systems became an incompatible mess: Each agency does its own product selection, and no effort is made to coordinate" (Ranum, 2004, p. 171). Even today, Homeland Security cannot coordinate the computers of all the agencies it oversees, and this is a huge barrier to sharing information and intelligence, and it puts the country and her people at risk.