Research Paper 1 1
Liberty University
HLSC 510 – D01 / Homeland Security Organization and Admin
The Evolution of Homeland Security
Kimberly Persiani
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Threats to America have always been managed throughout history. Terror and terrorist are
no new phenomena. To understand modern-day terrorism, we must review the conflicts and
territorial challenges of the twentieth century. From World War I to World War II, the concept of
threats to the United States of America was vastly the result of country-to-country conquests,
political disagreements, and imperial empire building. Country-to-country wars and conflicts are
a different type of threat from what is recognized by the Department of Homeland Security.
World War I
April 02, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson requested a declaration of war against
Germany. Germany’s resumption of submarine attacks on passenger and merchant ships in 1917
became the primary motivation behind Wilson’s decision to lead the United States into World
War I [CITATION USE20 \p "Paragraph 2" \l 1033 ]. Following the sinking of the Sussex on
March 1916, Wilson threatened severe diplomatic relations against Germany unless the German
Government refrained from attacking all passenger ships and allowed the crews of unarmed
French merchant vessels to abandon their ships prior to any attack. On May 4 1916, the German
Government accepted these terms and conditions in what came to be known as the “Sussex
pledge.”
Germany's violation of its pledge to suspend unrestricted submarine warfare in the North
Atlantic and the Mediterranean provided justifiable reasoning for declaring war against
Germany. In addition, America found that Germany made several attempts to entice Mexico into
an alliance against the United States of America. On April 04, 1917, the United States Senate
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voted in support of the measure to declare war on Germany. Two days later the House of
Representatives approved the support of war on Germany. In conjunction, the United States
declared war on German ally Austria-Hungary on December 07, 1917.
World War II
Many historians and citizens have disagreed with America’s engagement in World War I.
In 1939, German troops marched through Warsaw, Poland. Germany was able to gain control
within three weeks’ time. The invasion forced Britain and France to declare war on Germany
[CITATION Cha172 \p "3 Figure 1.1" \l 1033 ]. The German invasion continued to expand from
Poland to Stalingrad. Then, onward to Holland and Northern Africa known as the propaganda of
the Third Reich. The Third Reich was the official Nazi designation for the regime in Germany
from January 1933 to May 1945 [ CITATION Thi \l 1033 ]. The Third Reich was the presumed
successor of the medieval and early modern Holy Roman Empire of 800 to 1806, also known as
the First Reich and the German Empire of 1871 to 1918, the Second Reich.
President Woodrow Wilson's previous encounters with Germany made them a threat to
the United States national security. In addition, President Wilson's response was influenced by
another pledge violation by sinking the British passenger ship Lusitania in May 1915. A German
submarine attacked the Lusitania, which resulted in 1,200 civilian deaths. Among the deaths
included 128 American citizens [CITATION Ber18 \p "Paragraph 5" \l 1033 ]. Although Wilson
and Secretary of State, William Jennings Bryan intended for the United States to remain neutral
to mediate a negotiated peace, Germany was immediately considered a threat.
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Additionally, Wilson sought to gain allies in France and Great Britain. The Nazi
onslaught was considered the largest whole-scale terror campaign in world history. The Nazi's
systematic extermination program was setup to disguise the German's intentions to deport people
to death camps, which were informed to be relocation labor camps. President Wilson's
precautions were justified in joining allies with France and the British as President Adolf Hitler's
intentions did not include a peace keeping with America.
Cold War
The rivalry and competition between the United States of America and the Soviet Union
opened the gateway for the Cold War. 1950s – 1960s the United States disaster management
team focused on civil defenses against nuclear attack. President Harry Truman and congressional
lawmakers prepared Americans for the possibility of nuclear attacks. Although the United States
government sponsored a civil defense program during World War I, modern American civil
defense did not begin until May 1941, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Office
of Civilian Defense. The Office of Civilian Defense closed in June 1945.
Policymakers facing the beginning of the Cold War re-established a civil defense program
in March of 1949 under the National Security Resources Board. An agency created by the
National Security Act of 1947. In two years, several international events forced Congress to
significantly expand this program and tailor America's civil defense programs to the age of
nuclear warfare under the Federal Civil Defense Act of 1950. The Soviet Union's successful
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nuclear bomb test in August of 1949 surprised American defense planners and precautioned them
to reconsider America's military and civilian preparedness and capabilities.
The Federal Disaster Relief Act of 1950 coupled with the Federal Civil Defense Act of
1950 represented a milestone in American history of disaster policy. The new framework and
process helped setup decades of disaster relief and laws. The FDRA set forth as a standard
process by which governors of the states could as the president to approve federal disaster
assistance for their respective states and localities [CITATION Ric20 \p "88 Paragraph 3" \l 1033
]. This alteration shifted power from Congress.
Dual-use preparedness programs like the civil defense preparedness expanded. Civil
preparedness emergency management and the policy options associated were influenced by
foreign policy and nuclear weapons technology matters. Several nations allied with America
under defense treaties. President Dwight Eisenhower setup a mass evacuation policy and
removed the shelter program. In the 1960s, President Richard Nixon introduced the National
Security Decision Memorandum. The NSDM emphasized a dual-use approach to federal citizen
preparedness programs. It replaced the Office of Civil Defense with the Defense Civil
Preparedness Agency.
The DCPA coordinates and directs federal, state, and local civil defense program
activities. This includes fallout shelters, chemical, biological, and radiological warfare defense
facilities. Also, emergency communications and warning systems, post attack assistance and
damage assessment, preparedness planning, and government continuity. President Nixon moved
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the DCPA under the Department of Defense umbrella. Under President Truman’s and
Eisenhower’s appointment, civil defense was primarily a nuclear preparedness program. Under
President James Carter, Congress amended the Civil Defense Act of 1950 to authorize funding
on a dual-use basis. Dual use intended to prepare for the threat of enemy attack and for natural
disasters. For the first time in United States civil defense history, federal funds could be allocated
exclusively to state and local governments. The dual-use initiative assumed that preparations for
evacuation, communication, and survival were common to both natural disasters and enemy
military attacks on the homeland [CITATION Ric20 \p "90 Paragraph 2" \l 1033 ].
Over the 1970s and 1980s, flexible targeting and limited retaliation was agreed upon by
the United States and Soviet Union as the flexible response policy. Flexible response was based
on the idea that each party could carry out small-scale nuclear attacks that could be answered by
similar size acts of retaliation to limit casualties. United States policymakers further emphasized
civil defense as a means of protection with a new initiative under Relocation Plan. CRP included
evacuation planning through receipt of federal funding. CRP incorporated support for relocation,
food distribution, and medical care. Under CRP, local residents could be relocated to rural areas.
In 1982, President Ronald Reagan proposes a seven-year, $4.3 billion dollar program to upgrade
national civil defense capabilities.
Furthermore, throughout the 1960s and 1970s the American environmental movement
became popular amongst the public and policymakers. Protecting natural habitats, conserving
wet-lands, and reducing pollution contamination became a priority. For example, the United
States Environmental Protection Agency began operation in 1970. The EPA was responsible for
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conducting land and water environmental research that could help reduce disaster effects. As a
subdivision, the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 emerged to provide states a great deal of
authority to get involved in hazard mitigation planning and spawned an abundance of state
enabling statutes. As a result, federal policy shifted to keeping people and structures out of
hazardous and high-risk areas by encouraging states and their local governments to create
improved disaster mitigation zoning laws, building codes, and land-use regulations. These
policies forced citizens and officials of state and local government to assume greater
responsibility for where and how people lived. As time continues local governments worry about
federal zoning, where federal involvement takes over local and state jurisdiction. Several other
organizations developed from the Cold War.
Homeland Security
The United States Department of Homeland Security and its homeland security mission
were manifested from the commitment and resolve of American citizens nationwide in the wake
of the September 11th attacks. Terrorist threats to the United States have evolved since 09/11.
Despite success in detecting and preventing different types of terrorist attacks, other kinds of
vulnerability has arisen as problematic to include cyber terrorism. Domestic terrorism has even
become a priority. With each threat the Department of Homeland Security has developed
different constructs like the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, United States
Secret Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the United States Customs and
Border Protection. Each agency was created to implement and mitigate defense systems to
protect the homeland. After reviewing the changes to policies and procedures over decades,
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America has adapted to become a strong influence over the world. 1 Corinthians 1:10, "I appeal
to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one
another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly
united in mind and thought." The scripture discusses unification. America has become one with
each war it has faced. 09/11 developed a unification between the nation to protect the homeland.
References
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Berg, M., & Jansen, A. (October 2018). AMERICANS IN WORLD WAR I – WORLD WAR I
IN AMERICA. The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, 17(4), 599-607.
Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/docview/2124077629?
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Nemeth, C. P. (2017). Threats to the Homeland: Twentieth-Century Military Movements. In C. P.
Nemeth, Homeland Security (pp. 2-7). New York : CRC Press.
Sylves, R. (2020). A Short History of US Disaster Policy. In R. Sylves, Disaster Policy and
Politics (pp. 83-90). Thousand Oaks, CA: CQ Press.
Third Reich HISTORICAL EMPIRE, EUROPE. (n.d.). Retrieved from ENCYCLOPÆDIA
BRITANNICA: https://www.britannica.com/place/Third-Reich
U.S. Entry into World War I, 1917. (2020). Retrieved from history.state.gov:
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1914-1920/wwi
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