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Terrorism: Reducing Vulnerabilities and Improving Responses U.S.-Russian Workshop Proceedings (2004) / Chapter Skim
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The Department of Homeland Security: Background and Challenges
Pages 176-184

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From page 176...
... This concern was fueled by the World Trade Center bombing in 1993, the Oklahoma City bombing, and the discovery of a bomb at the Atlanta Olympics in 1994. Moreover, it became increasingly evident to the American public that terrorism had a growing sophisticated and global reach, a perception fueled by overseas events such as the bombings in 1998 of the U.S.
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From page 177...
... There was strong pressure for Congress and the administration to act decisively, and there was strong pressure from the intelligence community to focus any dramatic organizational mergers and reassignment of responsibilities away from them. Shortly thereafter (October 2001)
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From page 178...
... adding value over preexisting structures and relationships Woven throughout these challenges is an ongoing theme of increasing coordination from merging related organizations into a single focal point and by creating new and innovative interagency coordinating mechanisms. Building an Effective Organization The immediate challenge facing the new department is clearly start-up: How quickly can DHS be up and running?
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From page 179...
... In a broader context, the new department has been likened to an interior ministry but without a national police component. A major challenge facing the department is how to effectively join border security functions and interior functions into an organization that has centralized leadership and decentralized operations.
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From page 180...
... Absent a strong in-house intelligence analysis component, it may be that DHS will have to rely more heavily on predigested information from many other agencies. As it starts up, the new department's intelligence role will be limited, primarily linking analysis from a newly created interagency Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC; see below)
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From page 181...
... The new DHS Science and Technology Directorate will coordinate research and development programs, including preparation for and responding to threats from weapons of mass destruction. A major responsibility of the new DHS Science and Technology Directorate is to join research and development efforts to detect and counter potential terrorist attacks.
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From page 182...
... Yet unclear is where DOD will fit into a support role for other homeland security missions, such as intelligence analysis; intelligence gathering and law enforcement; research and development, particularly in the chemical/biological area; and use of reserves and the National Guard in functions ranging from protecting airports and borders to assisting in the wake of national disasters. We must be mindful that if we look at missions from the DOD perspective, much interest centers on keeping overseas military operations as the department's primary focus.
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From page 183...
... CONCLUSION Who would have thought even 10 years ago that the United States would so dramatically reorganize the federal government? In one sense, what the DHS model attempts to do is deal a serious blow to the nineteenth century musket assembly-line model of government, where every agency had a separate piece of the action, and where at the end of the day, the pieces fitted together fairly well.
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From page 184...
... What can science, technology, and engineering offer here? How can the scientific and engineering community support government and industry decision making in a world of increasing terrorist risk?
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Key Terms

  • coast guard
  • intelligence analysis
  • law enforcement
  • secret service
  • homeland defense

  • mass destruction
  • information analysis
  • security act
  • counter potential
  • central intelligence

  • dhs science
  • strong pressure
  • intelligence community
  • challenges facing
  • integration center

  • critical infrastructures
  • national guard
  • congressional research
  • terrorist threats
  • combating terrorism

  • terrorist threat
  • transportation security
  • threat integration
  • president bush
  • technology directorate

  • intelligence communities
  • infrastructure protection
  • century musket
  • global reach
  • growing sophisticated


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