Emerging Technologies in Supporting Homeland Security

TO:FROM:SUBJECT: Emerging Technologies in Supporting Homeland Security

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) together with its associates in the federal government, private and public sectors all over the globe have become more vigilant and well prepared to defend the threats and attacks of all natures. This has led to the emergence of new forms of technologies protecting the country from not only threats in distant neighborhoods but also as sophisticated as a cyber attack.

New Technologies since 9/11 and Deployment

Homeland security enterprise has built state and urban area fusion centers through a combination of technical assistance, personnel, and security clearances. Improved technology and updated practice to deal with risky situations have prevailed in various sectors. In the prevention of travel and passenger screening, DHS has applied technology to ensure legitimate travel. Advance passenger information, visa security program and passenger's name record data both identify potential association of travelers to terrorist activities. In addition, the primary focus after the September' 11 incidence has been on the detection and prevention of biological, nuclear and radiological threats. High-tech security systems in ports all over the country detect the arriving goods for potential radiation risks. Furthermore, a federally managed BioWatch system is designed to prevent imminent biological threats (Dhs.gov, 2013).

Critical Infrastructure Sectors-Main Focus

Protection of critical infrastructure units by DHS after 9/11 was guaranteed by the security assessment throughout the nation to identify and report vulnerabilities of these infrastructures, followed by proposing recommendations for corrections. Moreover, DHS has worked to regulate the security in the chemical facilities nationwide. High-risk facilities have been identified, and their security vulnerabilities have been thoroughly assessed. As a contingency plan, DHS has also provided training to more than 35,000 partners on a variety of situations in risk mitigation (Dhs.gov, 2013).

Current Focus and Success-After 9/11

According to the quadrennial homeland security review as of February'13, department of homeland security has reached out to a much wider focus with their "all hazards" approach. The plan is now to expand their concern towards natural disasters and also technological accidents. Amongst these sectors of interest is the recapitalizing of the coast guard. Although, the United States Coast Guard has continued to perform effectively, their fleet and other resources need to be updated to coincide with adequate modernization. In addition, aviation security has been also a matter of concern for homeland security by employing new techniques such as the secure flight ...