Americans' Attitudes to Homeland Security - Term Paper Example

Living in constant fear and terror refers to a situation whereby an individual is in a state of anxiety caused by the presence of danger, or its assumptions. Upon the enactment of the homeland security act of 2001, American citizens are said to be living under a state of constant fear and terror. It is thought that since its enactment in 2001 people in New York still see matters of security more of government work and has nothing to do with them1. On the other hand it is supposed to protect its people but as we are going to see, New York citizens do not ascribe to this act and the institution behind it. That is the department of Homeland Security. It is said that citizens are not pleased by the constant security checks by state officials to their homes and they would even opt for evacuation without seeking state communication, if need be. Following September 11, the federal government had to develop a security framework that could help to protect the country from mass attacks directed from overseas, while enhancing federal, state and local strengths to plan, respond and recover from threats and disasters at home. Key amongst these was the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in March 2003, bringing together 22 separate agencies and offices into a single, Cabinet-level department. The Homeland Security Act has a primary mission of preventing terrorist attacks within the United States. 2Through its state arm, the Homeland Security, it has the sole organization responsible for protecting citizens of the United States. It is also responsible for minimizing damages that may occur in US, due to terror attacks. For instance, this act enabled the administration to develop a multilayered information system that can enable different security agencies to share information and identify people who are a threat to the security of United States. The intention of coming up with this system is to prevent terrorism attacks that these people may be planning3. This system also provides the Homeland Department secretary with powers to control and direct any investigation that requires an access to crucial information that may help to investigate and prevent terrorism. This authority also includes a request for any type of PHI by the secretary of Homeland Security without consent from the individual’s legal representatives4. In other words when there is a need to clarify some vital data about an individual’s health, the authority has the sole duty to undertake the exercise. This system also protects the PHI from any unauthorized disclosures. The PHI has to be used for official purposes only, and it has to receive careful handling. This re-disclosure is therefore restricted to anyone who needs information that directly pertain to their jobs, and it has to be in accordance to the HIPAA privacy rule. In addition the Department boasts of the first statutorily required privacy office within the federal agency headed by Mary Ellen Callahan .Its main responsibilities extends from evaluating the effects of privacy on the programs maintained by the department, and mitigating any negative effects of privacy. The privacy office’s objectives include among others; evaluation of the legislative and regulatory proposals of the department, which includes the collection, use and disclosure of personally identifiable information5. Secondly, it centralizes and provides program oversight and implements all FIOA and privacy Act operations. It manages to operate a privacy response program that has the capability of identifying personal and sensitive information. Further, it responds to investigations, and addresses complaints of privacy violations and finally it trains, and educates law enforcement agencies on how to protect the privacy of its people. There are certain measures put in place by the DHS to New York citizens that expressly make them feel to living in fear. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) act stipulates that the administration has the duty of ensuring that foreign students that want to train in American flight schools are not a threat to aviation or national security. The homeland security department is responsible for implementing this act. It does this by performing background checks, including government watch list matching, criminal history check, and an immigration status check. These measures are meant to ensure that citizens are not surprised by aerial bombs. Despite these measures, citizens of New York still live in the fear of terrorist attacks. These people are in fear of biological or nuclear attacks6. This is because the impact of such an attack would be greater, when it is compared to the impact of an ordinary gun or bomb attacks. They are therefore concerned of the policies that the Federal government enacts, to prevent terrorists from acquiring nuclear weapons. The residents of New York City are the most concerned on the security abilities of the United States7. Most of the residents in these regions are highly educated, and they act on a point of knowledge when they seek to lobby the government to initiate tough measures that will prevent terrorists from acquiring weapons that can kill a large number of people. The response of the government following the September 11th attacks is also the reason why the residents of New York are constantly living in fear. The government is accused of being slow to take develop counseling centers. These would have helped minimize the psychological tension the victims of these attacks faced8. Furthermore, the Federal Government did not develop a mental health surveillance system, which could play a responsibility of monitoring the health status of the victims of these attacks. This has contributed to the emergence of the state of fear, to the people who witnessed these attacks. The Terror Management Theory better explains this condition. The best way of understanding the reaction of another person to terrorism, is the fear of death. When people are exposed to physical threats, thoughts of dying begin to emerge consciously. The only way of protecting them from such thoughts, is assuring them of their security. Furthermore, there is a need of developing a mental health surveillance system that has the capability of providing counseling services, to anybody living under the threat of terror attacks. The September 11 terror attack killed about 2,800 people. It managed to cause a large scale destruction of property, leading to negative economic growth within the region9. Families were distorted and little effort from the government meant that these families had to be relocated to other places and provided for, after evacuation. For those who chose to remain they had to undergo physical and psychological treatment not forgetting spiritual nature which is not part of the security act. With the possibility of future terror attacks, the efforts of public health officers should focus on mentally preparing people on how to deal with terror attacks; this is in case they happen10. The best method of mentally preparing people for protecting themselves during terror attacks includes carrying out public education forums, whereby security experts are able to educate the public on security issues. Furthermore, there is a need of identifying areas that are vulnerable to terror attacks, and improving the security of those areas. Discrimination also thrives amongst the state officials in their endeavor to provide security to citizens especially along religious levels and race and it just does not stop there. Individuals from other known religions and race especially the African American and Hispanics and Arab speaking citizens tend to be marginalized far from their rights to freedom of movement and expression by the local administrators like the Central Intelligence Unit11. They are always viewed as threats to the performance of peace to all other individuals in the United States by state agents. The Al-Qaeda extremist group is majorly Islamic in nature and this means scrutiny is placed on travels from the Middle East and all citizens of Islamic faith. The Federal Government has put measures in place that can help in checking the family background of people wishing to travel in the country. This in includes people from the Middle East countries. This system has played a great role in identifying terrorists, their targets, their hiding places, as well as their sponsors. This has played a great role in averting terror attacks, hence protecting the citizens of United States, and more so, the citizens of New York. In as much as the focus of this policy is in Middle East, the US government has also initiated tough measures of scrutinizing passengers coming into the country, from all over the world. This includes passengers from Asia, Europe, America, and Africa. This is because terrorism groups such as Al-Qaeda have active cells in all regions of the world, and they normally target American interests. This is irrespective of where these interests are. Within the roles stipulated by the Homeland Security act there is room for syndrome surveillance which is often influenced by rising threats of biological terrorism and an increase in the availability of electronic information. These data plays a crucial part in the department of homeland security, because it is from these databases, that inland security uses to track individual records. Though crucial as it may seem it faces a number of challenges which when summed up continues to promote fear among the inhabitants of New York12. In its stipulation the act does not require a patient’s authorization for information needed in PHI. This makes these people seem to see that if their private data can be disclosed to the security agents even without their legal authorization, then there is no meaning to trusting the same agents with your security issues because maybe they already have. Though it may be beneficial in the end to the state, but to an individual, who is still recovering from the trauma caused by lapses in the same government, he/she feels let down completely. This still propagates the fear factor in the population. They believe that the same system in place cannot be entirely trusted. Efforts should therefore be made from individual level to community participation13. The government cannot be having such information and the citizens still languish in pain, fear and mistrust. Also within the surveillance systems, individuals expect that data taken can be shared with other states for security enhancement of the federal system of government. But what happens when technological barriers and lack of standards limits state agents from sharing data. It is stated, that data sharing roadblocks exists at all technological levels, and they comprise of incompatible software and hardware. So what happens when there is bioterrorist attack in say Pennsylvania and such data was very important for New York agents to do research on before time? This are the factors that still make fear to run rampage among citizens of New York and other southern end states14. Because they feel that security is a matter of each sovereignty to community to an individual sole responsibility. The act cannot perform its role alone without the active acceptance of the people. During the congress meeting in 2003, the former president Mr. Gorge Bush pointed out to the fact that terrorism thrives best in governments that are affected by corruption, ethnic strife and loose boundaries. The terrorism activities of the present time, is different from that of the previous time15. The emergence of modern technologies enables terrorists to plan and operate on a global perspective. Technological advances have enabled terrorists to coordinate their actions through various cells that they have set up in various countries of the world16. The weaknesses of the Homeland Security act means that terrorists are able to manipulate those weaknesses to their advantage. For example, some states are unwilling to share private information with Federal government agencies. This is because of the various privacy laws governing these states. This makes it hard for the government to fight terrorism17. This means that inhabitants of New York will continue to live in fear. This is because the efforts by the government is little, compared to the capacity of the terror attacks that they are vulnerable to. This lack of coordination from the states makes security a big challenge to everyone in all spheres. It is because the extremists group in the global perspective are very much connected and organized. In a bid to assure the security of the New Yorkers, and citizens of United States, President Bush denoted that it is essential for the US security organs to confront and disrupt the plans of the terrorists. This is by attacking them in whichever place they are. These words are still fresh in the minds of people in New York18. However, with various counter terrorism measures, such as the enactment of the Homeland Security act, and the disruption of Al-Qaeda’s activities in Afghanistan, the people of New York are still living in fear. These people are not assured of their security, despite receiving numerous assurances from security agencies, both of the State and Federal government. This is because they believe that the government is not initiating tough policies that can help in protecting them from terror attacks. They feel that the system through its many laws like the homeland security act only works at the benefit the big brother and not down to that local individual. Also they reflect on the past exposures to traumatic events and tend to believe if terrorist had access to weapons of mass destruction like nuclear weapons, biotechnical weapons and other destructive weapons then the government needs to assure them how they can be safe when such are used on them19. While there is substantial improvement in New York over the benefit of homeland Security act following September 11 attack, fear of future terrorist attack still lingers on the minds of New York citizens. There is need for better preparedness of the citizens for future threats and a consorted effort by the government to initiate not only, psychiatrists, psychologists, physicians, and mental health officers but also the spiritual dimension of security. Surveillance is necessary but let there be efforts of reconciliation from the government to the citizens. Americans need to wake up and get to learn that they are safe. The government through its state operation –the media, and department of Homeland Security need to explain to people in detail what they are doing and how they believe it is going to benefit the people. Terrorism does not occur in a vacuum, but it takes place between two separate antagonistic governments in disagreement with each other. With the one being antagonized resorting to these acts to strike pain and fear to the other. Therefore citizens of New York need to see openness efforts of healing and preparedness to terrorism and not just law. References: Innes, B. (2003). International terrorism. Broomall, PA: Mason Crest Publishers. Lutz, J. M., & Lutz, B. J. (2013). Global terrorism (3rd ed.). London: Routledge. Sterngass, J. (2012). Terrorism. New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark. Weinberg, L. (2013). Democracy and terrorism. New York: Routledge. Read More