Pros and Cons of Homeland Defense and Homeland Security

Homeland Security

· Homeland security is a federal agency whose aim is protecting the United States against threats. In addition, the department of homeland security coordinates the country’s overall critical infrastructure and key resources protection efforts. Moreover, it monitors the National Infrastructure Protection Plan implementation, development, as well as integration with national preparedness initiatives.

• In terms of mission, the department’s mission is to lead efforts meant to achieve a secure, safe and resilient homeland. Furthermore, the department aims at countering terrorism and enhancing the country’s security. That includes managing and securing the country’s borders through the administration, as well as enforcement of the immigration laws.
• The department’s vision is having a secure, safe homeland resilient against terrorism and other hazards.
• The role associated with the department of homeland security is the protection and access of inventory information. The department protects information from unauthorized use or disclosure. The information, usually, contained in the Infrastructure Data Warehouse (IDW). The goal of the infrastructure data warehouse is the provision of access to relevant information related to industrial accidents and natural disasters, among others. In addition, it maintains the basic information regarding the dependencies, relationships, and interdependencies existing between various systems, assets, and networks.
• In addition, the department of homeland security makes use of reasonable worst-case conditions in the process of assessing terrorism risks since intelligent adversaries can choose circumstances where targets are highly vulnerable and consequences highly maximized.
• Furthermore, the department of homeland security uses a variety of systems and tools to support threat and incident warnings. For example, DHS Earth and iCAV visualize the threat warnings and incident reports, making it possible for analysts to deliver geospatial context to numerous information systems (Chertoff, 2014).

· Nationally, the department of homeland security is responsible for the entire national risk-informed critical infrastructure and key resources prioritization in close collaboration with the state, and other partners affiliated to the CIKR.

Homeland Defense

• The United States department of homeland defense is concerned with the protection of the country’s sovereignty, domestic population, territory, as well as critical defense infrastructure against foreign aggression and threats.
• It is the department of defense that conducts homeland security in the United States whenever the President authorizes military action through his constitutional authority as the commander in chief.
• The mission of the department includes domestic air defense. In addition, as part of the homeland defense activities, the congress has authority to authorize the army to strengthen or build fixed harbor defenses, and the Navy to construct blue water ships with the aim of defending the country’s right to the sea lanes.
• The missions associated with homeland defense include air patrols across the United States airspace, maritime interception operations, land-based defense of critical assets and infrastructure, among others.
• In terms of resources, the department of defense has the most diversified and large personnel assets in the federal government with its reserve and active duty forces. That enables the department of defense in preventing and managing security threats to the country.
• Furthermore, the department has the responsibility of assisting communities in the different stages of disaster preparation, response, as well as long term recovery.
• The defense department is also responsible for facilitating legal migration while cracking down on those who violate the country’s laws.
• The homeland defense department is responsible for protecting American citizens from threats associated with terrorism. That is one of the highest principles of the department, as well as a founding principle. The effort requires contribution from everybody in the society, including communities and families, the private sector, local and state governments, the department, and first responders, among others.

· As a way of making its work easier, the department forged new partnerships with international allies. In addition, the department of homeland defense dedicated new resources to detect new threats at all transportation hubs, and secure the critical infrastructure.

Based on the above information, the department of homeland security concentrates on the hazards that face the nation. These include terrorism threats that face the nation, jurisdiction hazards, as well as Meta hazards. Jurisdictions face different risks or threats, and it is, usually, the jurisdiction that comes up with a list that defines what it considers threats or risks.