Domestic Intelligence and Priorities versus Politics - Essay Example

Domestic intelligence and civil liberties Domestic intelligence mainly refers to the secret search, gathering and collection of information with the aim of identifying individuals who might be planning terrorism actions or any other violent actions. (Jackson, Schaefer, Noricks, Goldsmith, & Lester, 2008) This mainly involves search of individuals and organizations in the society. The intelligence officers have to see to it that any suspicious individuals are investigated and all information concerning them taken into account.

Civil liberties on the hand refer to the freedoms granted to the citizens of a country for them to be able to protect themselves. (Gillam & Mogren, 2007) This is mainly related to protection by the law enforcement or the constitution of the country.These two (domestic intelligence and law enforcement) are both meant to protect the citizens from terrorist attacks or any other form of insecurity. Scholars however states that the two cannot work together since they tend to be having different objectives.

The law enforcement mainly focuses on protection of the citizens while domestic intelligence, though still protecting the citizens, is meant to collect information and search for any terrorists at all costs. It is therefore argued that, in the process of gathering the information, the citizens’ privacy is compromised and thus their civil liberties threatened.In my opinion however, domestic intelligence is worthwhile since it protects the citizens. I would argue that a decrease in the civil liberties in order to enforce further protection from terrorism is better than freedom with no security.

It would be better for domestic intelligence to be increased so as to protect the citizens from any possible terrorists than to claim that civil liberties are being violated. This is mainly because, if civil liberties are given the first priority the terrorists will also take advantage of this and thus hide among the citizens without being identified.Determination of key infrastructure by the governmentThe government determines the key infrastructure and key assets through determination of the benefits that are likely to be obtained from the infrastructure and also assessment of the costs that are involved.

Determination of whether resources are equally distributed is determined by the level of participation of citizens in the various economic activities of the country. When most of the countries citizens are contributing to the income of the country, then it shows that the resources are well distributed. This is because it is an indication that people can access both economic, education and social services.This system is effective since it is beneficial for both the people and the government. However, I would recommend that some improvements be made to it.

Of which, one is accessibility. The government at times does not access the people in the rural and remote areas. Again, the presumption that more participation of people in the country’s market shows equality might be misleading. This is because; it might be only people in the urban areas who are participating in the economy, while the rural people are wallowing in poverty.This system identifies the critical infrastructure of U.S. some of the critical infrastructures are: transport, communication and technology.

Applying risk management and cost-benefit analysis, it is clear that among the three mentioned above technology is the critical infrastructure that is most, this is because, is the outcome is most uncertain, and its benefits are also higher compared to the other two. Many risks are also involved such as lack of market, losses in case of failure of an innovation or destruction due to malfunction of a newly invented technology. These risks only can be mitigated by taking precautions in the type of investments that the government invests in.

The losses should be kept as low as possible, and if trying uncertain technologies, the government should ensure to take insurance coverage. (Hiles, 2004)ReferencesGillam, S., & Mogren, E. W. (2007). Civil Liberties. Minnesota, United States: Hiles, A. (2004). Enterprise Risk Assessment and Business Impact Analysis: Best Practices. Connecticut, U.S.A: Rothstein Associates Inc. Jackson, B. A., Schaefer, A. G., Noricks, D., Goldsmith, B. W., & Lester, G. (2008). The Challenge of Domestic Intelligence in a Free Society: A Multidisciplinary Look at the Creation of A U.S. Domestic Counterterrorism Intelligence Agency.

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