Homeland Security Budget

Introduction

Ever since the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001, Homeland Security has been the top priority of the United States government. Not only did this event start the global war on terrorism, but it also created the Department of Homeland Security. The United States is fighting terrorism at home with Homeland Security, and abroad using the military to wage a war on terrorist groups. Terrorism is a danger to the fabric of our society, they threaten our whole way of life. Homeland Security must be at the top of the governments agenda in order protect the citizens of the United States from another possible September 11th scenario.
Homeland Security
The Department of Homeland Security is a combination of various federal
agencies, put together in order to protect the continental United States. Some existing agencies were put into the Department of Homeland Security, and other were created and added to Homeland Security. These agencies include: United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP), United States Coast Guard (USCG), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC), United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Transportation Security Administration (TSA), United States Secret Service (USSS), Directorate for Management, National Protection Programs Directorate, Science and Technology Directorate, Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, Office of Operation Coordination, and Office of Policy (Homeland Security, 2016). Every one of these agencies play an important role in protecting the United States. Having all these organizations under one department helps them coordinate, and work together to provide better overall security. The Department of Homeland Security has the invaluable job of protecting the people of the United States from outside dangers. Homeland Security missions are to: prevent terrorism and enhancing security; secure and manage our borders; enforce and administer our immigration laws; safeguard and secure cyberspace; and ensure resilience to disasters (Homeland Security, 2016). The United States Customs and Border Protection agency helps accomplish these missions by securing the borders from terrorism and other threats. Another important agency in accomplishing Homeland Security’s missions is the Transportation Security Administration, which protects the nation transportation systems, such as Airport Security. The United States Coast Guard plays a big part in these missions, by securing the United States maritime borders. Then there is the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which deals with all aspects of natural-disasters and terrorist events. These missions are divide up among all these different agencies, which work together under the Department of Homeland Security. The Department of Homeland Security is one of the top priorities of the United States, and is therefore funded that way.
The total budget for the Department of Homeland Security for the 2016 fiscal year was 66 billion dollars (Homeland Security, 2016). This seems like a lot of money, but if you look at all that the Department of Homeland Security does, then you see that it is worth it. Also, if you compare the budget of Homeland Security to the budget of the military’s 585-billion-dollar budget, then Homeland Security’s budget seems small (U.S. DoD, 2015). Some could argue that the job that Homeland Security does is more crucial to the security of the United States, than the military. Therefore, the funding of Homeland Security should be increased, and the country could take a more self-dense approach to dealing with
terrorism.

Terrorism
The biggest objective for Homeland Security is terrorist organizations. There is a wide range of terrorist groups that are from many different countries all around the world. These terrorist groups include: The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), has used its territorial gains, access to foreign fighters, and sophisticated media operations to challenge Al-Qa’aida for primacy within the global terrorist movement; Al-Qa’ida is known for the 9/11 attack, but since then has been diminished because of lack of leadership. They still remain dangerous with different groups in, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and South Asia; Threat from Iran is that they remain the foremost state sponsor of terrorism, and works through the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force and Ministry of Intelligence and Security to support groups that target U.S. and Israeli interest globally; and lastly, Homegrown Violent Extremists or individuals with loose affiliation to terrorist groups overseas (Rasmussen, Nicholas, 2015).
The Homegrown Violent Extremists are the most dangerous to the United States, because they are already in the United States. The best way the to protect against these types of terrorist, is to monitor the world wide web for any contact between terrorist organizations and people living in the United States. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) poses a large risk, but Homeland Security helps prevent attacks by securing all the borders of the United States. Al-Qa’ida is the terrorist group responsible for the biggest terrorist event in United States history, and still are a risk to the security of the United States. These terrorist groups not only pose a risk to attack the United States, but also have the power to influence citizens of the United States to commit terrorist attacks.
The reason terrorism is so dangerous, is because there are so many ways to commit a terrorist attack. There are many different types of possible terrorist attacks, such as: car bombings, improvised explosive devices (IED), dirty Bombs, chemical attacks, nuclear attacks, biological attacks, airline hijackings, and really any other imaginable type of attack. “The type of attack a would-be terrorist chooses depends on the anticipated benefits of the act, as well as on the opportunities for carrying out the attack successfully” (Newman, Graeme & Clarke, Ronald, 2008, p. 37). Terrorist are willing to die for their cause, so their options for attacks grow even larger. The fact that there are so many different terrorist attacks, makes the job of Homeland Security keeping them out of the country crucial.
Terrorism is not just dangerous because of the loss of lives and damage to infrastructure, but also the terrorist’s other goals as well. Other goals for terrorist are: create a climate of fear; create a media sensation; disrupt everyday life; disrupt commerce and industry; extort concessions; force an extreme government reprisal; exaggerate the perception of the terrorist threat so that a relatively small terrorist group can exert great leverage; and exploit perceived democratic weakness (i.e., the rule of law, free speech, laws against torture and pretrial detention) (Newman, Graeme & Clarke, Ronald, 2008). Knowing that terrorist have such extreme terrible intentions for the United States, makes Homeland Security’s job of protecting the people that much more important. The best defense for terrorism is to prevent them from being able to enter the United States, which is what Homeland Security’s job is.
Other Important tasks
The most important function of Homeland Security is protecting the people of the United States from terrorism, but they also perform other valuable tasks. One of these tasks is mitigating preparing, responding, and recovering from Natural Disasters. Natural Disasters can be as deadly, if not more deadly than a terrorist attack. An example of this is Hurricane Katrina, which hit New Orleans, Louisiana in 2005. Hurricane Katrina was responsible for 1,833 fatalities with estimated damages of 108 billion dollars (CNN, 2016). This disaster can revival the September 11th terrorist attacks in damages and devastation. The Department of Homeland Security uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency to guide and assist in severe natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina.
Another task that the Department of Homeland Security handles that is, illegal immigrants. Illegal immigrants pose certain risks to the United States, because they have not been properly vetted. These risks include drug trafficking, criminals entering the country, and even the possibly of terrorists entering the U.S. It is estimated that there are 11.1 million illegal immigrants that live in the United States, and that is down from 2007 when there was 12.2 million (Krogstad, J., Passel, J., & Cohn, D., 2016). Being able to properly check immigrants as they enter the United States is important to the safety of everyone. This is another important duty that the Department of Homeland Security handles using multiple agencies.
Conclusion
The Department of Homeland Security was created to deal with major security threats to the citizens of the United States.
The Department of Homeland Security has many important agencies within it, and they all work together to safeguard this country. These agencies are responsible for different objectives, but they all work towards the same overall missions. One of these missions involve protecting the United States from the Terrorism. There are many different terrorist groups that are danger to the United States, and they can attack in a large variety of ways. Even though the main purpose of Homeland Security is to protect against the threat of terrorism, it also deals with other issues. Dealing with the large issues of Natural Disasters and Illegal Immigration, is another important function of Homeland Security. The Department of Homeland Security plays a large role in the security of the United States, and is a top priority for policymakers no, and should continue to be for the foreseeable
future