One of the expressed core values of the Department of Homeland Security (2021) states “We will
relentlessly identify and deter threats that pose a danger to the safety of the American people. As
a Department, we will be constantly on guard against threats, hazards, or dangers that threaten
our values and our way of life.” DHS protects the health and safety of the American people and
our critical infrastructure from all threats, including climate change. Climate change leads to
many of the natural disasters that seem to be more frequently ravaging the modern world. These
disasters are posing a significant and unpredictable threat to homeland security. Such is why
climate change is one of biggest threats and hazards to our homeland and requires DHS to
include emergency management functions. In 2021, there were twenty natural disasters, resulting
in Americans suffering losses more than one billion dollars (National Centers for Environmental
Information, 2022). FEMA is a part of DHS, and it is their mission to mitigate, prepare, recover,
and respond to disasters. Matthew 25:13 (New King James Version Bible, 1982) states, “Watch
therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour...” As forementioned, the dangers associated
with climate change and natural disasters are unfortunately extremely unpredictable. For this
reason, if American infrastructure is to be preserved, climate security requires an ongoing policy
prioritization.
President Biden has found the crisis in climate change a risk to homeland, so much so that within
his first 100 days in office, he made it a priority to make changes to climate related policy. On
January 27, 2021, Biden created an executive order to tackle the climate crisis at home and
abroad. Biden ordered the DHS to consider the implications of climate change in the Arctic,
along America’s borders, and to national critical functions (Exec. Order No. 14008, 2021). In
addition, DHS was ordered to create a climate risk analysis examining the security implications
of climate change that can be incorporated into modeling, simulation, war-gaming, and other
analysis (Exec. Order No. 14008, 2021). Further, it ordered the Secretary of Homeland Security
to begin providing an annual update starting, January 2022, to the National Security Council.
This update would specify the progress made in incorporating the climate risk analysis aimed at
securing the nation (Exec. Order No. 14008, 2021). The order also established a National
Climate Task Force, mandating membership to include the Secretary of Homeland Security and
the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism (Exec. Order No.
14008, 2021). This policy is critical to protecting future generations, assisting in protecting our
current infrastructure, and providing plans to avoid the impacts of the climate crisis. The U.S
must lead the way in tackling climate change to ensure global action takes place.
The climate crisis is particularly important to include in the mission of the DHS. However, two
other prominent dangers exist: mass shootings and cyber threats. Mass shootings should be
classified as domestic terrorism. Typically, terrorism is the “intentional act of violence or threat
of violence by a non-state actor’ in which two of the following three criteria also have been met:
the violent act was aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal; the violent
act included evidence of an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a
larger audience other than the immediate victims; and/or the act was outside the precepts of
legitimate warfare activities.” (Hunter et al., 2020). In minimal situations do mass shooters not
have a political, economic, religious, or social goal, but they surely have the other two
conditions. Mass shootings have become a part of our culture. Once a shooting occurs it is a
shock to American citizens and a call for justice is made, before usually getting washed from the
collective conscious by the next tragedy in the news cycle. This does not take away the
significance of the threat. If DHS does not take this threat seriously, they are not abiding by the
their primary core value stated at the beginning of this discussion: to identify and deter that pose
a danger to the safety of the American people.
Furthermore, the threat of cyber threats has become a significant risk to our homeland. Attacks
such as the hack on the Colonial Pipeline, the North Korean hack of Sony to stop The Interview
from showing in theaters, and the many works of hacktivist groups such as Anonymous have
demonstrated the potentiality and potency of modern era cyber threats. The hack on the Colonial
Pipeline sent the American people into a fit of uproar and paranoia; the North Korean
government hacked Sony and blamed the American government for the movie, claiming it was
“an act of war”. And, acts of hacktivist groups against any person, group, or country could hold
any vast number of wide felt ramifications and damages. Some may excuse the activities of
hacker parties that espouse a noble cause, but allowing groups such as this to respond to
situations whenever they want, however they want validates a new breed of vigilantism.
Vigilantism is by definition an illegal act that circumvents law and order while simultaneously
jeopardizing the public’s well-being, but now, through cyber threats, on a large enough scale to
be a matter of homeland security.
References
Department of Homeland Security. (2021). Core values. Core Values | Homeland Security.
Retrieved June 29, 2022, from https://www.dhs.gov/core-values
National Centers for Environmental Information. (2022). Billion-dollar weather and climate
disasters. Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters | National Centers for
Environmental Information (NCEI). Retrieved June 29, 2022, from
https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/billions/
Hunter, L. Y., Ginn, M. H., Storyllewellyn, S., & Rutland, J. (2020). Are mass shootings acts of
terror? applying key criteria in definitions of terrorism to mass shootings in the United
States from 1982 to 2018. Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression,
13(4), 265–294. https://doi.org/10.1080/19434472.2020.1762108
Exec. Order No. 14008, 3 C.F.R. 7619 (2021). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2021-
02-01/pdf/2021-02177.pdf
Vernon,
Your evaluation of outer space’s potential for serving as a threat to homeland security is
remarkable. When tasked with identifying threats, most individuals would immediately submit
precedented and well-known attacks such as terrorism and cybercrime. However, you are
certainly right in your observations there are threats occurring beyond the confines of Earth.
Mike Pence stated, “Both China and Russia have been conducting highly sophisticated on-orbit
activities that could enable them to maneuver their satellites into close proximity of ours, posing
unprecedented new dangers to our space systems.” (Chow, 2020). Many agencies are calling for
norms of space behavior to be founded. Even more, Russia and China are calling for peace in
space by prohibiting the placement of any weapons on satellites (Chow, 2020). Unfortunately,
this takes a lot of confidence and trust in every nation launching their own spacecraft. Many
nations have already launched spacecrafts, the majority equipped with the components necessary
to accomplish refueling, repairing, upgrading of in-orbit satellites, and the removal of space
debris. With these capabilities, it could become very easy for any number of the countries to
launch an attack in space. This is why in 2019, the United States Space Force was created as the
newest branch of the Armed Forces. The Space Force “is responsible for organizing, training,
and equipping Guardians to conduct global space operations that enhance the way our joint and
coalition forces fight, while also offering decision makers military options to achieve national
objectives.” (The United States Space Force, n.d.). Space is an unknown environment; there are
many unknown threats which is why your threat assessment is correct. “It will be harder in the
future to navigate through these domains due to its vastness, so we must train and equip
ourselves to prepare for future conflicts and be able to tackle these threats.”
References
Chow, B. G. (2020). Space Traffic Management in the New Space age. Strategic Studies
Quarterly. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/26956153?refreqid=search-
gateway.
The United States Space Force. (n.d.). What's the space force. Retrieved July 1, 2022, from
https://www.spaceforce.mil/About-Us/FAQs/Whats-the-Space-Force/
Israel,
Your compelling suggestion for FEMA to be reassigned to DOD is original, inspired, and worthy
of consideration. The mission of the DOD is to “provide the military forces needed to deter war
and ensure our nation's security.” (U.S. Department of Defense, n.d.). Compared to DHS, which
is “With honor and integrity, we will safeguard the American people, our homeland, and or
values.” (Department of Homeland Security, 2021). FEMA’s mission seems to fit more into that
of DHS as they aim to help people before, during, and after disasters on American soil. DOD
should be focused on the threats that our military face, ensuring each of the branches is trained to
be a strong force ready to prove and protect the strength the government. DHS must be focused
on protecting the infrastructure holding the nation together. This is why FEMA should ultimately
stay in the sights of DHS. Both have important roles in ensuring national security, but the way
they do so is distinctly different and the DHS’s brand of security is more in line with FEMA’s
core objective. The threats the DHS face are those directly associated with the nation’s interior or
borders. DOD’s focus is that of oversees threats and staving off the encroachment of opposition
aiming to penetrate American borders. While your assertion to move FEMA to DOD is intriguing
and thought provoking, it would be a miss step, ultimately seeming to be an exercise steeped in
semantics problem solving.
Furthermore, I enjoyed the Bible passage you shared. Ezekiel 33:2 exemplifies the purpose of
DHS. They truly are the watchmen of the coast, protecting citizens from manmade and natural
threats that come before us.
References
Department of Homeland Security. (2021). Mission. Mission | Homeland Security. Retrieved
July 1, 2022, from https://www.dhs.gov/mission
U.S. Department of Defense. (n.d.). Our story. U.S. Department of Defense. Retrieved July 1,
2022, from https://www.defense.gov/About/
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