Past 9/11: Homeland Safety For The Twenty-First Century – Guide Assessment

Past 9/11: Homeland Safety for the Twenty-First Century is an edited quantity that includes chapters by a number of authors. This e-book works, at the beginning, as a primer on points confronted by the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety in finishing up its broad mission. In different regards, nonetheless, the e-book is missing. That is significantly the case within the textual content’s failure to pinpoint the origins of safety points. That is additionally the case in its failure to deal with methods that policymakers may formulate and make the most of to deal with such points. 

The e-book works nicely as a basic overview, and it might function a wonderful introductory textual content in an instructional course. The authors of every chapter make certain to level out most of the gaps and vulnerabilities concerned within the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety’s missions. Nevertheless, except the penultimate chapter, “Homeland Safety and Transnational Crime”, which suggests a method of disruption towards world legal networks, the e-book’s varied authors don’t recommend a lot direct motion, nor do they recommend proposals that will enhance the company’s effectivity and capabilities. 

All through the e-book, a reader can work via a guidelines of points concerned within the Homeland Safety enterprise: these embrace a compulsory dialogue of how you can stability privateness and safety in gentle of the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety’s expansive attain, in addition to a dialogue of mission areas that overlap with or seemingly duplicate the capabilities of different U.S. federal companies such because the Facilities for Illness Management, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the U.S. Division of State. Additionally included, and addressed by a number of of the chapter authors, is the query of how an company centered on home safety may interact with the problem of more and more transnational threats, together with cybersecurity incidents, world terrorist operations, and arranged crime. 

In discussing these matters, the e-book does a wonderful job of drawing consideration to the bureaucratic construction of the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety and the way it is likely to be extra effectively reorganized. The e-book additionally, in a number of chapters, addresses threats and vulnerabilities, in addition to extant gaps within the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety’s efforts to deal with them. For instance, the chapter “DHS and the Counterterrorism Enterprise” by Matthew Olsen and Edoardo Savarelle discusses the problem of extremist radicalization, which regularly happens on both a home or transnational foundation via on-line communication, and which makes this a difficulty that may not adequately be addressed by bodily border management measures. Though this chapter addresses a Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) technique, the authors focus on solely the truth that it’s troublesome to develop a workable metric for the outcomes of such a method, with out offering their very own tackle how CVE efforts could also be improved by the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety sooner or later. 

The next chapter, “Rethinking Borders: Securing the Flows of Journey and Commerce within the Twenty-First Century”, by Seth M.M. Stodder, is the place the quantity’s flaws make themselves most obvious. Stodder means that present border safety and enforcement measures are merely the results of nationalist politics and safety theatre. Sadly, this chapter doesn’t current thorough or enough arguments for various insurance policies from a nationwide safety standpoint. The reasoning that Stodder gives on this chapter is that, in his view, borders at the moment are safer than they’ve ever been earlier than. This argument ignores the quite a few points that have an effect on U.S. land and maritime borders, together with the persevering with risk of cross-border human trafficking and narcotics smuggling. Though Stodder gives some lip service to the concept of worldwide cooperation on border safety points, he gives no recommendations for a way that is to be applied or what methods may outcome from it. Briefly, this chapter’s principal weak point is its creator’s tendency to succumb to his preconceived notions with out conducting a radical evaluation of the subject material. This in flip prevents Stodder from suggesting real looking coverage alternate options. 

The chapter “Rethinking Transportation Safety” by Peter Neffenger and Richard Ades is the place the quantity shows its biggest energy at figuring out gaps in present mission capabilities. This chapter appropriately factors out that though the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety makes an attempt to create a complete organizational construction coping with transportation safety threats through air, land, and sea, maritime safety threats are given minimal consideration relative to aviation safety. This chapter takes the time to recommend a bureaucratic reorganization involving higher fusion between companies concerned in maritime safety efforts. 

The e-book’s second-to-last chapter, “Homeland Safety and Transnational Crime” – written by two of the e-book’s editors, Chappell Lawson and Alan Bersin – gives probably the most that the quantity affords in the way in which of energetic coverage recommendations. This chapter suggests a method of disruption towards transnational legal enterprises by Homeland Safety companies. This chapter additionally suggests higher intelligence cooperation between the U.S. and allies. If there may be one flaw on this chapter, it’s that the authors don’t think about the relative trustworthiness of present or potential allies in intelligence cooperation, nor do they think about the danger that intelligence fusion is likely to be used as cowl for hostile intelligence assortment efforts within the occasion of a diplomatic battle. 

As an edited quantity, Past 9/11 provides a complete overview of the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety’s mission areas. The e-book additionally gives an introductory abstract or refresher on the various points concerned within the Homeland Safety enterprise in a extremely politicized local weather. Moreover, plenty of functionality gaps are recognized, though the chapter authors make few recommendations for how you can mend these gaps. The authors additionally make few recommendations for how you can develop new insurance policies or new methods on key concern areas. This proves to be the e-book’s fundamental weak point, though it’s not with out utility for college kids or instructors looking for a information to the primary matters encompassed below a broad definition of “Homeland Safety”, or basic readers excited by an summary of the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety’s missions.