By Calvin Biesecker
Homeland security is a “national enterprise” that combines efforts at all levels of government and includes the private sector and even families and communities, creating the challenge of securing the homeland by balancing diverse priorities and focusing on shared interests and responsibilities, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says in its first Quadrennial Homeland Security Review (QHSR) that was released on Tuesday.
The homeland security enterprise “connotes a broad-based community with a common interest in the public safety and well-being of America and American society and is composed of multiple partners and stakeholders whose roles and responsibilities are distributed and shared,” the QHSR says. “Yet it is important to remember that these partners and stakeholders face diverse risks, needs, and priorities.”
The document outlines the various roles and responsibilities within the homeland security enterprise, from the White House lead on policy direction and coordination and the DHS lead within the federal space in certain areas such as cyber security and immigration enforcement, as well as its unique responsibilities in areas such as border security to corporations’ securing their own operations and the work state, local and tribal governments perform.
The strategy document consolidates the concepts and missions that DHS has been discussing and carrying out since its inception in 2003. For example, it outlines three key concepts that are at the foundation of a comprehensive approach to homeland security.
These concepts are security of the country, its people, vital interests and way of life. Resilience, a theme the Obama administration has pressed, is another concept and it includes individual, community and systems. The final concept is customs and exchange related to expediting and enforcing trade, travel and immigration.
The review outlines five missions. These are preventing terrorism and enhancing security, securing and managing U.S. borders, enforcing and administering the country’s immigration laws, safeguarding and securing cyber space, and ensuring resilience to disasters.
The QHSR points out that it is not a “resource prioritization document, although in identifying key mission areas for priority focus, it is highly indicative of where those priorities should lie.”
A second document that DHS is currently working on, the Bottom Up Review, will align programs and organizational structure with the missions and goals identified in the QHSR. The Bottom Up Review is slated to be completed in the first quarter of 2010.