Understanding Homeland Security

Foundations of Security Policy

Ehsan Zaffar

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780429632716
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: National Security
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Understanding Homeland Security is a unique textbook on homeland security that blends the latest research from the areas of immigration policy, counterterrorism research, and border security with practical insight from homeland security experts and leaders such as former Secretaries of the Department of Homeland Security Tom Ridge and Janet Napolitano.

The textbook also includes:

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• A historical overview of the origins of the homeland security enterprise as well as its post-9/11 transformation and burgeoning maturity as a profession

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• In-depth descriptions of the state, local, and federal government entities, such as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, that enforce and carry out the nation's homeland security laws and policies

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• Detailed discussion of relevant, contemporary topics such as asylum and refugee affairs, cybersecurity and hacking, border security, transportation and aviation security, and emergency management policy

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• A chapter on homeland security privacy and civil liberties issues

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• Unique current affairs analysis of controversial topics such as the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program, Edward Snowden, the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Russian cyberhacking efforts, and Black Lives Matter

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• Advice, guidance, and insight for students through interviews with homeland security leaders as well as terrorism experts such as Bruce Hoffmann and biowarfare specialists such as Dr. Rebecca Katz

The target audience for this text is advanced undergraduate or entry-level graduate students in criminology, intelligence analysis, public policy, public affairs, international affairs, or law programs. This textbook meets requirements for entry-level introductory courses in homeland security.

CHAPTER 1
Homeland Security Before 9/11

IN THIS CHAPTER YOU WILL LEARN ABOUT

The origins emergency management as a precursor to homeland security policy and practice.

The federal government’s response to the rising threat of terrorism prior to 9/11.

The differences between the related concepts of national security, homeland security, and homeland defense.

INTRODUCTION

One of the most significant events of the 21st century occurred on September 11, 2001 when a group of individuals flew two planes into the World Trade Center Towers in Manhattan, New York (the “9/11” attacks). These attacks, perpetrated by a group commonly known as al-Qa’ida, were the first perpetrated on U.S. soil since the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. Similar to the attack on Pearl Harbor, the 9/11 attacks prompted an enormous and concerted government response. After 9/11, the United States went to war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and launched counterterrorism and intelligence initiatives around the globe. State and federal government bodies passed legislation and crafted policies designed to protect the nation against all hazards, from terrorism to natural disasters.

The 9/11 attacks had a particularly dramatic impact on the U.S. security apparatus. In direct response to 9/11, the White House announced the creation of the Office of Homeland Security, which later became the Department of Homeland Security. When the Department of Homeland Security was stood up in November 2002, it constituted the largest government reorganization since the Department of Defense was created in 1947. While this reorganization created entirely new agencies, practice areas, and mission sets, it was also the culmination of decades of legislation and debate over the federal government’s role in responding to large-scale disasters. What is today referred to as “homeland security” is a relatively new phenomenon, and its origins rest primarily not in counterterrorism but, instead, in emergency management.

In this chapter we will explore the origins of homeland security as both a concept and a modern policy practice. Later chapters of this text will delve deeper into the more practical aspects of homeland security, such as transportation security and border security. The last few chapters will highlight the impact homeland security policy has had in other related policy areas such as civil rights and civil liberties and privacy policy.

THE ORIGINS OF FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

The United States government has always held some responsibility for responding to security threats, as well as manmade disasters and natural disasters. Today, this broad, crosscutting responsibility is generally called “homeland security,” but that term is a recent addition to the security and emergency response lexicon. To understand the emergence of homeland security after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, it is important to review the long arc of U.S. emergency management that preceded these attacks.

As a formal responsibility of federal government, emergency management began with efforts to address threats from fire and disease in 19th-century towns and cities.¹ For the most part, an American living in the mid- to early 1800s perceived the federal government as a remote and far-removed organization that did not intrude on daily affairs. Instead, Americans engaged on a regular basis with their state and local governments.

With the Industrial Revolution, Americans increasingly moved to cities. As time passed, fewer people worked on rural farmlands and increasing numbers worked instead in urban factories. As people overflowed the capacity of cities to handle them, manmade disasters like city fires, structural building collapse, and riots became more common. Municipal governments were unable to cope with the sudden rise in population and public facilities to accommodate basic needs remained inadequate throughout the late 19th and early 20th century. The lack of clean drinking water as well as unmanaged sewage made disease commonplace and hard to control in growing cities like New York. Buildings went up quickly to house factories and laborers, but they were often built poorly and were susceptible to fire (Figure 1.1).

FIG. 1.1
Increased urbanization and poor safety policies contributed to an increase in manmade and natural disasters that only organizations as large as governments could respond to.

Source: Welcome Arnold Greene, The Providence Plantations for 250 Years 274 (1886), https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Gorham_Manufacturing_Company_1886.webp.

While facing rising threats to health and safety, towns relied on minimal tax income and a few scattered social service organizations, such as churches and non-governmental organizations for support. Eventually, the challenges of a growing population became so large that local governments across the country looked to the federal government for help. The first instance of the federal government stepping in to assist a state or local government with an emergency was in 1803. On December 26, 1802, a fire started at the New Hampshire Bank building in Portsmouth, New Hampshire (Figure 1.2). The blaze spread quickly, destroying 200 buildings with an estimated $200,000 in damages.² The disaster was so significant that the local Portsmouth community was unable to cope using its limited local government resources. A local newspaper later described the heroic efforts of local residents fighting the fire:

The women of Portsmouth did not flee in the face of the 1802 fire, but pitched in and worked on the bucket brigades until they dropped from sheer exhaustion. Volunteers from nearby towns were instrumental in spelling the spent firefighters and in guarding valuables from the dozens of reported looters who many believed were themselves the incendiaries arsonists.³

FIG. 1.2
The New Hampshire Bank Building Fire in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, was one of the first manmade disasters that taxed the response capabilities of local officials to such an extent that they sought federal assistance.

Source: Wikimedia, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2e/Portsmouth,_NH_-_oldest_bank(s).webp/1024px-Portsmouth,_NH_-_oldest_bank(s).webp (last visited Dec. 12, 2018).

Facing insurmountable costs, New Hampshire’s U.S. congressmen appealed to the federal government for assistance. The result was the Congressional Fire Disaster Relief Act, the first piece of national disaster legislation and the first time federal resources were made available to help a local government with a local emergency.⁴ This legislation was the first of several congressional actions to respond to growing natural and manmade hazards across the country. Congress increasingly became involved in responding to state and local requests for disaster assistance. Throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s city buildings kept growing larger and taller, housing more people, making it easier for fires to spread and burn down entire towns full of tightly packed and poorly constructed housing. Large fires killed hundreds in major cities like New York, Chicago, and San Francisco throughout the early 20th century.

During this time, the federal government functioned as a small, loosely knit organization (unlike the strong, centralized federal government we see today). As such, instead of passing comprehensive legislation that created a department or agency to handle disasters, the federal government responded by passing legislation to deal with specific events.⁵ For instance, between 1803 and 1950, the Congress addressed more than 100 disasters of various types using one-off decrees to provide federal resources to address local crises. For example, Congress chartered the American Red Cross to assist victims of disasters that occurred in 1905; sent soldiers to maintain order after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and ensuing fire; and granted the Army Corps of Engineers authority over flood control in the Mississippi Valley in 1927.

Federal Emergency Response Function Grows During Wartime

Thus, in the United States, the development of emergency management (and later, of homeland security) has been and continues to be event-driven. As such, alongside responding to natural and manmade disasters, U.S. participation in the two World Wars of the 20th century also precipitated a change in how the federal government managed disasters. To manage these wars and provide for the general defense of the country, states yielded increasing power to the federal government. After these wars were over, the federal government often failed to relinquish its wartime powers. For instance, during wartime the federal government provided financial assistance to the states. In return, the federal government sought cooperation from the states on a variety of measures designed to standardize behavior, such as federal speed limits for roads and bridges in various states. As wars and conflicts throughout the 20th century ended, the federal government kept these financial quid-pro-quo relationships in place. Likewise, states continued to rely on federal aid for a variety of issues, including responding to disasters. This dependence only grew throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Today, this “power of the purse” continues to be a major reason why states seek aid from the federal government even today, especially when the state’s budget is unable to provide for assistance for recovery and rebuilding.

In response to these growing urban disasters, Congress established the Council on National Defense in 1916 to coordinate “industries and resources for the national security and welfare” and to “create relations which will render possible in time of need the immediate concentration and utilization of the resources of the Nation.”⁶ (Notice the pairing of the terms “national security” and “welfare”; this was one of the first examples of these two concepts being joined in the federal government’s ethos.) The establishment of the Council led to the creation and coordination of civil defense councils. Eventually totaling 182,000 units, these state and local civil defense councils directed “home front” activities that were important during both World War I (and later World War II), such as conserving resources, providing economic stability, and responding to threats to Americans on U.S. soil. This coordination of local councils throughout the country by the federal government to respond to emergencies (though only those driven by armed conflict or war) was decidedly different from the previous trend of congressional legislation designed to address emergencies on an ad-hoc basis. This more coordinated approach served as a precursor for the establishment of the far more complicated national security and homeland security federal agencies that arose later.

World War II also brought about increasing federal involvement in emergency management. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation and the Bureau o...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Lists of Figures
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• CHAPTER 1 Homeland Security Before 9/11
• CHAPTER 2 The Formation of the Homeland Security Enterprise After 9/11
• CHAPTER 3 Immigration
• CHAPTER 4 Border Threats, Border Security, and Risk Assessment
• CHAPTER 5 Intelligence
• CHAPTER 6 Transportation
• CHAPTER 7 Emergency Management and Hazards
• CHAPTER 8 Cybersecurity
• CHAPTER 9 Infrastructure Protection and Technology
• CHAPTER 10 Civil Rights, Civil Liberties, and Privacy
• Index