Homeland Security is the action of protecting the American lands and the people of America
from those state and non-state actors who seek to do us harm either for political or profit
motives. The mission of Homeland Security is to counter the threats that are targeting America,
through a combination of deterrence and active crime interdiction. At no point can we ever
counter 100% of all of the potential threats, and we really shouldn't try. Only a totalitarian state
where all of our rights have been eliminated could ever give us 100% safety. What we actually
seek is a balance between protecting our constitutional freedoms and protection from those who
would do us harm. Ironically, I think of the line from George Orwell's book "1984"; "We sleep
safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who
would do us harm.", as an example of the sort of perception that homeland security seeks to
provide. In case you haven't read 1984, Orwell is describing a dystopian world where everyone
is monitored 100% of the time, and even incorrect thoughts are punished.
The most interesting question posed in this class to this point is how efficient is homeland
security. The question itself is impossible to answer. To do so, you would need an overview of all
of the threats beyond the level of the combined intelligence agencies of the world. Then you
would need to be able to view how many of those combined plans were thwarted. Nobody has
that much info. The best that we can do is to view the information that we have access to and
judge from that point. To be fair, I have to disclose that I am one of the founding members (now
retired) of the Department of Homeland Security. I have at times been involved in both
collection and analysis of intelligence information. I still have some connections in that spooky
world. My opinion is that DHS as an organization does a very good job with very few resources.
If I had to sum up the real world function of DHS, I would say that it exists to keep the public
perception of safety alive in a world where bad actors can cause amazing amounts of death
without any outward signs of pre attack planning. Viewed within that lens DHS does a very good
job. Ironically the hard working men and women at the border probably do the best with limited
resources and at the same time are probably viewed as least effective.
Personally, I find myself drawn to the mission of ICE. Between Ice Agents and their
deportation mission, the border patrol, and the agents at EPIC and BORTAC. I think they have
the biggest direct impact on public safety especially in the areas of drug and human trafficking's.
They are the one agency that I can point to, whose mission directly leads to bad people being
prevented from entering our country or being removed from our lands. I can also make the case
that the boarder is the biggest hole in our efforts to prevent terrorists from entering the country,
with the possible exception of the ill conceived efforts of the Department of State. The State
Department seems to go out of their way to bring bad people onto American soil on occasion.
The boarder patrol is well intentioned, but they simply lack the man power and the physical
barriers that would be needed to actually stop bad people from entering America. That is true
even if they were able to completely identify all of the bad and dangerous people by sight, which
is impossible.
If I had the magical power to fix one homeland security issue, it would be a complete barrier
system at the southern boarder. I would build a series of barriers that channeled 100% of the
boarder crossers through high security check points with the latest in scanning and detection
technology. That perfect solution would massively decrease the drug flow into the US, and along
with it, massively decrease the amount of drug related crimes. As it exists at this moment, there
are still many miles of our southern and northern borders where you can simply walk across.
The bible passage that comes to my mind when I think of Homeland Security is 2 Chronicles
14:7;
"For he said to Judah, “Let us build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, gates
and bars. The land is still ours because we have sought the Lord our God; we have sought Him,
and He has given us rest on every side.” So they built and prospered." This passage speaks to
the Lord's people prospering in security. They did this by protecting themselves from enemies
outside of their territory with physical barriers. In my mind, that is a perfect example of what the
mission of the Department of Homeland Security should be.
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