Homework Questions

Humanities

Concerning the current working relationship that exists between the private sector and its homeland security counterparts (which includes government at all levels, non-governmental organizations, the private sector itself, etc.), how would you assess the current model of shared responsibility between the government security and private sectors? Is it sufficient to adequately address future challenges? If not, what specific changes are in order?

Forum Grading Rubric: Answers the forum question(s) with a relevant, coherent and scholarly initial forum response (>250 words) 20/20; demonstrates lesson comprehension in forums with no more than 10% of content as direct quotes 15/15; employs complete and proper APA in-text parenthetical citations of the required readings for this week 10/10; responses to two classmates initial forum answers (>100 words each) 20/20; quality answer to professor follow-up question 20/20, main forum has APA reference list at end of forum (including the required readings) 5/5; reads and acknowledges professors end of week wrap up forum 10/10.

Note: your primary forum post answering the assigned question for the week is due on Thursday by 1155PM EST, and per the syllabus you can lose up to 5 points per day for late work.

Instructions: Craft your main forum answer is like a short paper directly answering the topic of the week with a well written response that fully utilizes the required readings for the week with at least 250 words. Focus only on the assigned question(s) in a scholarly manner using in-text citations from the required readings (save your personal experiences and opinions for your four forum replies in any given week). Each sentence quoting or paraphrasing any ideas or information from any source must be cited properly including the author and year of publication. Do not cite the APUS lessons — they are just basic information to start the week off and is not meant to be a primary source for you to reference in your reply (to receive full credit you must utilize and cite the listed required readings for that week). If directly quoting from the readings (or other scholarly sources), you must also include the page or paragraph number that you are quoting from like (Hoffman, 2006, p.7) or for articles and sources without pages (Renner, 2016, para.15). If you are directly quoting and there is no page number to cite, then you manually count the paragraphs and cite that number. You also need to have an APA style reference list at the end of your post listing the sources employed. For more on APA citations and reference lists see the APUS Style Guide for APA. You must first provide your own initial forum answer before replying to any classmates or the professor. The four replies of the week are more of a free flowing classroom discussion which offers you an opportunity to leverage your relevant personal experiences and express your thoughts and opinions. Respond to at least two other students initial forum answers with a minimum of 100 words each. In your replies to classmates you may offer your opinion on the topic of the week, substantially support or supplement another student’s answer, or even politely disagree with or challenge their forum answer (but do not ask your classmates questions, or do so only as a last resort per the forum philosophy). You will also reply to my follow up question in your own forum string, and also read and acknowledge the Professor wrap up forum I post toward the end of the week. Also, do not be afraid to respectfully disagree with the readings or a classmate where you feel appropriate; as this should be part of your analysis process and employing critical thinking and academic freedom. Forum posts are graded based on demonstrated knowledge of the lesson and weekly readings, relevance, timeliness, as well as clarity and quality of analysis and synthesis. Sources utilized to support answers are to come from the weekly readings, but other credible and scholarly sources may be used to supplement (but not replace) the assigned readings. However, dictionaries, encyclopedias and Wikipedia are not scholarly and are not acceptable sources in college level work. Do not use non-scholarly open websites as sources for your reply to the main forum answer. All forum work must be completed within the academic week. When replying to the main forum answer make sure to include your name in the “topic title” of your initial forum answer/response.

Student replies 100 words a piece

Student #1 Marco

Class,

The current relationship between the private sector and the Government of all levels is in a stable condition. There are positives and negatives to the Homeland Security Enterprise as a whole. The positives are clear, for instance communication for the most part has been established with a working relation between all involved. Another positive is with DHS updating plans for each critical infrastructure and privately owned businesses having plans as well in the case of a natural or man-made disaster each sector of the enterprise knows what role they play, with this being done it reduces disaster time. Security has always and will always be a priority, law enforcement at all levels are better equipped, organizations are provided training on reporting suspicious activity, ultimately possibly mitigating threats to the homeland. Though there will always be challenges, the enterprise must focus on the now, funding, programs, training, and maintaining a state of readiness. All these aspects if left unaddressed could lead to unprepared sectors which in turn leads to failure in performance in a crisis. As it stands the enterprise is sufficient to take on future roles and challenges. Roger Kemp the author of “Homeland Security Best Practices in America” states that no matter the future challenges affecting our enterprise, the goal is to “reduce loss of life and property” (Kemp, 2004). It is important fore the enterprise to keep up with the positives and paying attention to areas where its lacking to create a better overall system and enterprise.

Marco

References

Kemp, R. (2004, April). HOMELAND SECURITY Best Practices in America. In Sagepubs.com. Retrieved from APUS Library.

Student #2 Billy

Good evening everyone, this forum post is a great way to sum up this class. Since its inception in 2002 the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has made significant strides in protecting the homeland. As a nation we have experienced this first hand with the disasters such as 9/11 Terrorist Attacks along with natural and manmade disasters like Hurricane Katrina and the BP Oil Spill. Although we still have a long way to go because of the ever-changing terrorist threats we must always remain vigilant.

We must improve our communication capabilities across all agencies state, local and federal. Taking Hurricane Katrina for example, Terry Ebbert, the former director of homeland security for New Orleans stated, local officials “write evacuation plans but don’t own buses, planes, or trains.” Yet it is local authorities who have the responsibility to move threatened populations out of harm’s way” (Erwin, S. 2012, p 28). These types of terrorist attacks and disasters have cause us to open our eyes and realize that they are inevitable.

Although terrorism is out there we must understand that the threat may not always be the Osama bin Laden. We now live in a world consumed with cyberspace everything we do revolves around it things like daily communication, financial institutions, ect. We now carry mini computers around in our pockets or clipped to our belts. DHS has done a fine job at protecting our entryway into the country since 9/11, so good in fact the likelihood of that caliber of attack ever happening again is not likely.

The threat is ever changing so our ways of protecting our assets, people and critical infrastructure must also change. The way to do this is through information sharing. How can we accomplish the same goal across multiple agencies who are gathering the same information. Just as I stated earlier, through “Information Sharing.” (Nelson, R. & Wise, R. (2013) p5). Building strong partnerships amongst the 16 Critical Infrastructures as well as both private and public partnerships. Whether we like it or not cyber-attacks are going to continue to grow so our cyber awareness and cybersecurity must continue to grow as well.

Reference:

Erwin, S. (2012). Washington insiders question federal role in homeland security. National Defense Industrial Association, (September).

Nelson, R. & Wise, R. (2013). Homeland security at a crossroads: Evolving DHS to meet the next generation of threats. Center for Strategic and International Studies.