Mission
goals and objectives
Mission:
Preventing Terrorism and enhancing security
Created
after the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, the primary goal
of DHS was to combat terrorism and guarantee the security of the United States
(Dhs.gov, 2015). The mission was to prevent terrorism and enhance the security
of the nation. The department engages in various federal activities aimed at
dealing with terrorism some of which include management of customs and
emergency and border security. The staff is accountable to the president,
Congress and the public in the effectiveness of resource utilization. The
mission performance and its stewardship of the allocated resources are provided
on reports in conjunction with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
(Dhs.gov, 2015). There are three goals that the counterterrorism unit of the
department of homeland security specializes. The primary goal is to prevent
terror attacks. Secondly, it aims at preventing the acquisition, movement,
importation or use of chemical, radiological, nuclear and biological
unauthorized materials within the United States ('The Department of Homeland
Security', 2012). Lastly, in the fight against terrorism the department focus
is reducing threats to critical resources, infrastructure, and major events
from terrorism.
The
mission is considered a success once malicious actors are prevented to carry
out terrorist attacks within the United States. Notable progress has been
achieved in the 2001 attacks. Analyzing the performance of terror prevention,
it is commendable how the department has ensured the security of the country
despite changes and evolution of terror attacks. To mitigate the threats and
ensure the safety of the citizens, the department works in collaboration with
the international and local federal, state and local governments. It further
partners with private and public sectors, local and international communities
as well as territorial and tribal partners to strengthen the department and
make it adaptive to dynamic threats. To achieve the goal of the mission, the
department strives to attain several objectives. Understanding the risk is
paramount to deploying combat tactics ('The Department of Homeland Security',
2012). To fully understand a threat collection, analysis and sharing of
intelligence is done. The next objective is to disrupt and deter the operation
of the attackers an act that is achieved through rehearsals and disruption of
surveillance.
To
protect against terrorist capabilities, the department achieves this through
protecting potential targets from attackers. It further aims at stopping the
spread of violent extremism and any contributing radicalization process.
Community participation is encouraged to deter radicalization movements that
fuel violence. The goal of preventing against chemical, radiological, nuclear
and biological material attacks is realized through implementation of the
following objectives. Anticipating emergent threats through understanding
dangerous actors, materials, and technology. The performance is achieved
through the control of CBRN materials and protecting against hostile use of the
same (Dhs.gov, 2015). The performance depends on the satisfactory level of the
intelligence report from customer feedback. Other performance measure enacted
include the percentage of international flights screened that originate from
outside the United States as well as the law enforcement agents in
counterterrorism methods. Chemicals are counterchecked to comply with chemical
facility anti-terror standards (Dhs.gov, 2015). An evaluation of the successful
protection of national leaders, foreign dignitaries, and other designated
individuals.
The performance measure
of the threat of terrorism is useful in the essence that they keep the DHS
accountable for the allocated resources. In addition, the performance metrics
are logical since they evaluate the goals and objectives of the mission as
outlined above. However, some of the parameters inculcated in measuring the
performance are odd such as the protection of certain people that are
considered more influential such as dignitaries and nationalities. Such a
performance concept means that the life of the ordinary citizens is left at the
mercy of the terrorists since they are not granted the same protection as
dignitaries.
References
Dhs.gov,. (2015).
Creation of the Department of Homeland Security | Homeland Security. Retrieved 7 April 2015, from http://www.dhs.gov/creation-department-homeland-security
Dhs.gov,. (2015).
Performance & Accountability | Homeland Security. Retrieved 7 April 2015, from
http://www.dhs.gov/performance-accountability
The Department of
Homeland Security. (2012). Strategic Comments, 8(6), 1-2. doi:10.1080/1356788020862
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