Week 3 - Homeland security

Example only*

This week we were asked to pick one of the five mission areas within the DHS Strategic Plan (2014-2018). I decided to pick Mission 2: Secure and Manage Our Borders. The three main goals within this mission area are to secure U.S. air, land, and sea borders and approaches; safeguard and expedite lawful trade and travel; and disrupt and dismantle transnational criminal organizations and other illicit actors. (DHS 2018)

The first main goal surrounds itself around the idea of safe importing and exporting. Many of the approaches offered to ensure the safety of imports and legal exports is by utilizing a risk-based approach to screen, identify and intercept. This is great because this approach can be manipulated to look for specific things or give a broader picture that can act as a safety net to ensure nothing is, ideally, going under the radar. The hardest part of this approach is the need to constantly be adapting with the enemy to learn the new way illegal things are being moved from place to place. An example of this could be between the U.S and Mexico border where we see a lot of drugs being smuggled in, in ways that we had not been looking for in the past. As long as we maintain a constant flow of training and intel to those working the borders, airports, ports, ect. There should become a narrower room for error.

The next goal dives deeper into our personnel and trading security. I would like to say that I love that in this strategic plan there is acknowledgement that foreign trade and travelers do bring a lot of economic benefits to the United States. I think sometimes people here border patrol or border security and think that means we do not want any foreigners in our Country when that is really not the case. The basis behind this mission is to enable those who want to trade with us and visit here to do so as long as they are not considered high risk. This makes a lot of sense and adds to the fact that we want and need foreign reinforcement and we will have it as long as it poses no extreme risk to us and our Country.

The last mission goal covered within Mission 2 is one of the most important in my opinion. This mission goal surrounds around the detection and interception of illicit activities and actors. This ranges from money laundering to weapon and drug finds. Not only does this goal have extremely crucial performance measures but it also has a really high success rate. The DHS report highlights the measures and goals expected and many of them met or exceeded standards. These standards include seizing weapons, identifying high risk cargo and rate of interdiction effectiveness.

All in all, Mission 2 has many critical aspects that work towards a safer Country through the series of mission goals. I found each one of these goals to be important, necessary and effective.

Resources:

 US Department Of Homeland Security (n.d.). Fiscal Years 2014-2018 Strategic Plan.  https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/FY14-18%20Strategic%20Plan.PDF