Homeland Security and the War on Terror

Homeland Security and U.S. Intelligence

Formation of Department of Homeland Security & U.S. Intelligence on Terrorism

Definition of Intelligence

Rationale for Formation of DHS

Effectiveness of DHS

Importance of Intelligence & Analysts

Research Philosophy

Research Methods & Its Limitations

Data Collection & Analysis

National security has been a major concern for United States in past few decades. However, since 2001, this concern has turn into a serious threat for national security. The given research is performed with the intent of evaluating the effectiveness of Department of Homeland Security in terms of intelligence sharing on terrorism. For this purpose, the study is performed following a predictive form of research. This research methodology is best suited for the researches where the source of data is secondary. For the purpose of this research, the articles from peer reviewed journals and intelligence reports on Department of Homeland Security will be used.

For the purpose of this research, the effectiveness of United States' security policies and measures will be observed before and after 2001. The lacking causing the incident of 9/11 and elements resulting in successful operations in Iraq and Afghanistan will be observed. This comparative analysis will help in understanding if the Department of Homeland Security has played its role in acting as a single source of intelligence in the war against terrorism.

The given research consists of literature review followed by a comparative analysis of global landscape before and after 9/11 from security perspective. On the basis of this analysis, conclusion has been drawn which illustrate that United States has shown a tremendous transformation when it comes to policies entailing national security. It is only after the formation of DHS that extensive operations like Iraq and Afghanistan have become possible, and U.S. has become enable to keep surveillance on the factors causing threats to U.S. national security from inside and outside the country.

Chapters

1. Introduction

The United States of American, since its birth has faced and dealt with many external threats whether it is from communism or terrorists one thing is for sure that after the disasters of 9/11 more effective security measures are required. Where U.S. government has taken many measures for ensuring the mitigation of these security threats, the risks are even higher due to changing global landscape with reference to international relations. It was intelligence sharing and mutual cooperation that made United States deal with the threat from Al Qaeda, Taliban and other actors such as Saddam Hussain. But as the hostility is increasing at international level between nations and also considering the current features of United States foreign policies, threats from Asian terrorist and other nuclear powers including North Korea, are enhancing the need for having flawless intelligence structure which would enable the United States security agencies to have a ready shield of protection to combat any attacks. Where the role of agencies is already established, it is important to identify if the Homeland Security of United States can act as a sound source of intelligence information for the purpose of mitigating major security threats from the terrorists.

The phenomenon of intelligence sharing among different agencies and countries enables to adopt proactive approach and unfold the plans of terrorists before them committing their heinous acts. The objective of the thesis is to identify the role of homeland security in United States safety with reference to its responsibility as a source of intelligence information to security agencies. The purpose of this research paper is to establish if the formation of the Department of Homeland Security improve U.S. intelligence sharing on terrorism. The research methodology used is of predictive nature in which the improvement of U.S. intelligence sharing on terrorism (dependent variable) will be analyzed with reference to formation of homeland security department (independent variable). The sources used will be from secondary therefore the inherent limitations of incomplete information exist.

Department of Homeland security was established as a result of 9/11 attacks by assimilating 16 different government agencies. It was one of the major restructuring in government departments since National Defense Bill 1947. The range of functions and authorities of this department varies to a greater extent as compared to other interior departments of other countries. Where U.S. Defense ministry is entitled with the responsibility of protecting U.S. interest and its citizens through military actions across the border, DHS is responsible for acting in-land and outside American border. The vast range of its operations demand impeccable intelligence information since Homeland Security is a guarantee of U.S. sovereignty and survival.

The given research comprises of an extensive literature review which involves assessment of data available related to United States agencies performance before and after 9/11, in terms of effectiveness of security measures. Furthermore, the analysis is followed by discussion and analysis. During this analysis, comparison will be performed between the performance of United Stated security agencies and military after formation of Department of Homeland Security. This comparative analysis would allow the derivation of a conclusion indicating if formation of Department of Homeland Security has lead to improvement of Intelligence sharing on terrorism.

2. Literature Review

Definition of Intelligence

Intelligence can comprise of any form of information from which conclusions are drawn after analysis and this information is provided whenever required in response to a specific need provided that the original information without analysis was concealed from the acquirer earlier. The intelligence cycle is a requirements driven process that involves issuance of requirements by decision makers, collection, processing, analysis, and publication of finished intelligence products. Key among the development of "Intelligence" is analysis

. Where intelligence information is essential for the survival against security threats, it relates to information derived from multiple domains such as military, politics, in-land operations, economic and social factors as well as technical knowledge. It is important to understand that without analysis, information is a mere piece of refined data which cannot serve any purpose on its own. Therefore, an analysis by the professionals with a clear intent and specialize knowledge transforms an information into intelligence. For discrete purposes, this intelligence can be used by national and international organizations and agencies that can further use it for identifying patterns, and establishing relationships between dependent and independent variables in order to develop a hypothesis which can be supported by conclusive evidences.

Intelligence is useful only when it is objective, timely, and independent of political influences, based on all sources of information, relevant, logical, consistent, and accurate

Rationale for Formation of DHS

The department of homeland security was a resultant of a decade spent under a threat of terrorist attacks by Islamic extremist. The era of 1990s was specifically a period in which the threats rose to its heights. In fact, several attempts were made by international Islamic extremists with the intent of causing mortal damage to property and human lives in United States. The pace was accelerated when the young Muslims began pouring into Afghanistan against Soviet Union. Once they were dealt with former SU, the centre of focus was then United States. Several clearly expressed threats became known to the government and security agencies of U.S..

However, other than several previous attacks inside U.S. and, on U.S. officials and citizens present outside United States which caused loss of few precious lives, the incident of 9/11 took place which not only shook Americans but also raised question marks on the efficiency of United States Security Agencies. The event itself resulted in over 2000 casualties with a non-reversal economic loss and social uncertainty. The question arose that when the intent of Islamic extremists was clear and well-communicated to U.S. government over time, why this threat could not be combated. The intelligence community struggled throughout the 1990s and up to 9/11 to collect intelligence on and analyze the phenomenon of transnational terrorism. The combination of an overwhelming number of priorities, flat budgets, an outmoded structure, and bureaucratic rivalries resulted in an insufficient response to this new challenge

. Also FBI made its attempts to introduce reforms which can strengthen its capability of preventing terrorist attacks which have been planned inside and outside UNITED States, but these reform efforts failed to implement organization-wide institutional change. Furthermore, absence of coherence between the military departments, air defense and civilian authorities along with already established intelligence agencies caused an irreversible damage to United States in 2001.

With reference to operations of several security agencies operating in United States prior to2001, there was a massive data of redundant nature which was being useless and a mere burden to the national security budget. Although these security agencies were following similar information processing guidelines provided to them by Law Enforcement Intelligence Unit, assimilation of this data for further efficiency and effectiveness was required

It was identified that the United States security was in the hand of over 22 agencies which had different roles and responsibilities but no unified direction and internal communication. In addition to that, it became evident that where United States in-land security has been undertaken by various organizations, the inflow of threats and formulation of anti-American schemes usually takes place from outside American borders. Furthermore, where CIA was responsible for Inland and across the border security measures, the span of authorities was rather limited. Resultant was a formation of department of Homeland Security. It was a single department with a unified leadership and extremely diverse responsibilities and authorities. The slogan behind formation of DHS was "one fight, one team" which was suggested in 9/11 commission report

The basic objective behind restructuring various government agencies was to establish a department which could:

have access to unified intelligence which would used for operational planning against factors causing security threats such as Islamic extremists, act as a centre of counterterrorism activities nationally have all sources of intelligence or intelligence community reporting to one line of command and has a unified leadership of National Intelligence Director

provide a single platform to all the elements who are contributors to measures against terrorism threats prevailing in United States,

provide a single platform to all the knowledge bearers in a network-based information sharing system that transcends traditional governmental boundaries;

allow congress to oversee the operations of a single departments instead of various agencies performing different operations with similar motives allow national security agencies like FBI and LPAD to strengthen their efforts against terrorist threats.

The department was set up with the intent that a department with a greater span of operations spread globally, which can have authorities to watch over and protect American interest by undertaking the responsibility of securing lives, assets, and sovereignty of United States. The precise definition of Department of Homeland Security A department which could have had access to information acquired from inside and outside United States, assimilated at one hub and readily available for analysis by the specialized professionals with diverse background.

Effectiveness of DHS

Since its inception, the DHS has been carrying out its broad ranging activities worldwide. Where the individual security agencies were provided with their distinct roles earlier, DHS has been assigned with multiple responsibilities of mitigating terrestrial, maritime, and other inland threats by extending its operations across the borders. This department has been forming strategic alliances with the governments all across the world and has been strengthening ties with them in terms of security enhancements. The report submitted by DHS in 2010 shows its wide range of activities which it has undertaken in veracious countries globally

The department has been setting up its surveillance units all across the world with the intent of keeping the activities of extremists monitored and developing relationships between the events that have been taking place at global scale. Furthermore, it has been forming liaison with the security agencies and ministries of other countries like Japan, Nigerian Germany etc. This strategic alliance not only allows the flow of specialized expertise within the defense departments of these countries but also allows United States to have an access to biometric data which would have been highly difficult to obtain in the absence of DHS.

Furthermore, DHS has also been entering into contracts with the Ministries of Defense of other countries which makes the strategic partners to join hands in scientific research and development in combating the security threats. It is important to note that security threats are major concerns of many countries across the world and their concern is similar to Unites States'. Therefore, combined security practices, and a unified network which allows United States an access to intelligence available all across the globe, are the tedious tasks undertaken by Department of Homeland Security in past ten years.

Importance of Intelligence & Analysts

The last decade performance of DHS has resulted into significant outcomes. Elimination of major network of Islamic extremists from Afghanistan, Northern Areas of Pakistan, Iraq and other parts of the world, extermination of Osama Bin Laden along with other major leaders of Al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussain In Iraq are some of the major accomplishments of DHS. Where the major operation was conducted by the Military forces of United States, they were fully backed up by the timely and accurate information provided by DHS.

United States has spent over a decade on eliminating and weakening Al-Qaeda's network. And, due to the global network of DHS which allowed the security agencies to have a strong surveillance web all across the globe, the mobilization of terrorists, formulation of attacks' plans and precise location of these terrorists' elements was possible to be determined. It was the unified effort from multidimensional units of DHS and its broad ranging activities which helped in establishing relationship between extremists' activities through the world and ultimately resulted in removal of chain of command of terrorists' bands.

In addition to A-Qaeda and Saddam Hussain along with his allies, DHS has also provided necessary information to the ministry of defense regarding the other Islamic extremists. As a result of which, various extremist personalities have been banned from entering into United States and various groups like Lakshar-e-Jhangvi in Pakistan, have been made crippled by depriving them of any financial resources and liberty to have access to other assets. Not to forget, it is DHS timely information which has enabled Congress to have substantial political relationships with the governments of other countries. Hence, right information at the right time by DHS has changed the landscape of security measures globally. Now, United States security is not just dependent on the information provided by in-land agencies. It has access to information from all the global resources which has been transformed into valuable intelligence with the help of DHS specialized analysts

After the formulation of DHS, there was a lack of coherence between the agencies that were now operating from a single platform. Although the Director of National Intelligence was vested with the leadership of many these departments, there was a clear absence of authority which made the basic objective of formation of DHS difficult to achieve. As a result of efforts of DNI, Director of National Intelligence was given further authorities to support the wide range of responsibilities and was further provided with clearer guidelines. This extension of authorities continued till 2007 which resulted in clarity in terms of budgetary controls, personnel appointment and transfer, assets acquisition, reprogramming and tasking authority. This expansion in authorities made the organizational structure of DHS more efficient

Where DHS has managed to perform the roles assigned to it, one cannot ignore the importance of analysts present at its portfolio. The major strength of DHS is undoubtedly its vast range of information collecting agents however this information collection would have been futile in the absence of specialized and skilled analysts from different backgrounds and rich experiences. The analysts who were earlier working for individual organizations were gathered at one platform because of the formation of DHS and due to diverse range of analytical skills and tools available to it, the mere information transformed into intelligence which helped the law enforcing organizations deal with the security threats

It is also important to note that formation of a single body was not a new idea which suddenly emerged as a result of terrorists attacks on 9/11. It was a suggestion provided by many intelligence analysts and defense analysis experts for in 90s decade. There have been various researches and case studies which have indicated a need for formation of a single department with broader range of authorities and responsibilities for dealing with security threats at national and international level

Considering the performance of DHS in the last decade, it is evident that DHS has acted as a source of intelligence which has resulted in the elimination of many security threats at national as well as international level. A world wide terrorist network has been weakening by the consolidated efforts of various units operating under the roof of this one organization.

3. Research Methodology

Research Objective

The main objective of this research is to evaluate if the formation of department homeland security has so far served its purpose and also if the intelligence information provided by it, has and will help in dealing with the threat of terrorism.

Where the war against terrorism has been a centre of attention of many security agencies and ministries of defense throughout the world, United States government has moved one step forward by establishing a unified department which is serving a purpose of intelligence hub. Since intelligence is a key weapon in the battle against terrorism, it is important that it is accurate, reliable, obtained from all the sources and timely. Here, arises a need to evaluate if DHS has a potential of combating the threat of terrorism globally by acting as an organization with a single-hand intelligence. Therefore, the research subject entails a thorough analysis of current activities of DHS banks related to the security against terrorism. To be more precise, the research objective is to evaluate the effectiveness of operations of DHS and its leadership investigate if DHS has a potential of dealing with terrorists' threats in the future

Examine if DHS has an effective network which would allow it to deal with the terrorist threats arising at national as well as international level.

Research Question

Will formation of the Department of Homeland Security improve U.S. intelligence sharing on terrorism?

Research Philosophy

The underlying philosophy behind this research is to establish an understanding if the current practices in Department of Homeland Security can be correlated to the global requirements of dealing with security threats and also if the prevailing measures are suitable for handling the challenges that can be offered by changing future outlook.

Since the research is of predictive nature, an analysis will be performed by developing a relation between independent and dependent variables. The dependent variable is the improvement of U.S. intelligence sharing on terrorism. The independent variable of main interest is the formation of the Department of Homeland Security.

Research Methods & Its Limitations

Research methodology provides a suitable set of guidelines for conducting the research, performing analysis on the data derived and deriving evidences from the research findings.

Although there are various methods of research available, the given research topics requires a predictive form of study because the purpose of this research is to identify the performance trends of DHS and the objectives that it has achieved in terms of improving the intelligence sharing on terrorism. However, it is important to identify the limitations that are offered by this research method.

The given research will be conducted with the help of secondary data available on print media and online sources which will include journal articles, literature related to policies, history and achievements of DHS. However, there is an inherent risk of incomplete and biased information whenever secondary data is used. Therefore, necessary attention will be given to elimination of these limitations.

Data Collection & Analysis

Like stated earlier, the exploratory or predictive form of research is the suitable method to be used for this purpose; therefore the suitable mode of data collection will be derivation of data from secondary resources. The given set of data provides the overview of independent resources which would be free from organizational bias. Furthermore, this research methodology will help analyzing Department of Homeland Security in its natural settings with the help of secondary data available and will help in observing the current practices of DHS and also its potential of dealing with security threats in the future.

4. Discussion & Analysis

According to the literature review performed above, United States had various agencies working for a common cause of dealing with security threats. However, where these organizations had their specific roles combined with reasonable authorities, national security measures and policies lacked a unified direction. Furthermore, presence of information at multiple locations and level was redundancy in national intelligence which was not effective in dealing with security threats. In the 1990s, many analysts had proposed a formation of a single department which would help in handling a vast domain of national security.

It is important to note that United States was not only subjected to threats from external resources, there were internal factors as well such as racist groups, which were serious concerns for law enforcing agencies. If the frequency of terrorists attack is evaluated before 2001, it will be noted that entry into United States was comparatively easier and the degree of small attacks was rather higher. Furthermore, absence of strategic alliances between the governments of United States and other countries also enabled the terrorist groups to gain strength in the period of 80s and 90s. Where security was a major concern for many countries, there was a lack of coherence between the measures taken for dealing with these threats.

If the landscape of global terrorists' attacks and other activities is observed in the last two decades, it will be observed that after 2000, these activities gained strength whereas a sound policy structure which could deal with these threats was missing. There were several agencies working on the similar agendas but lack of coordination was resulting in inefficient security model. Entry of 19 terrorists in the United States territory was a big question mark on the security and protections measures of U.S.. Although entry into air planes took place in other country, it clearly indicated that United States needs to have its security personnel extended to other parts of the world as well. Since the attention was on in-land activities earlier, threats from external factors were undermined which caused the major damage.