Homeland Security Notes Quiz 1

Bellavita (2008): defining Homeland Security 

  • 7 ideal types 

  • Homeland security is about: 

    • Terrorism 

      • “a concerted national effort by federal, state and local governments, by the private sector, and by individuals to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, reduce America’s vulnerability to terrorism, and minimize the damage and recover from attacks that do occur”. 

    • All hazards 

      • “a concerted national effort to prevent and disrupt terrorist attacks, protect against man-made and natural hazards, and respond to and recover from incidents that do occur”. 

    • Terrorism and catastrophes 

      • “is what the Department of Homeland Security supported by other federal agencies. Does to prevent, respond to, and recover from terrorist and catastrophic events that affect the security of the United States”. 

    • Jurisdictional hazards 

      • “Homeland security means something different in each jurisdiction. It is a locally-directed effort to prevent and prepare for incidents most likely to threaten the safety and security of its citizens”. 

    • Meta hazards 

      • “Homeland security is a national effort to prevent or mitigate any social trend or threat that can disrupt the long-term stability of the American way of life”. 

    • National security 

      • “Homeland security is an element of national security that works with other instruments of national power to protect the sovereignty, territory, domestic population, and critical infrastructure of the United States against threats and aggression”. 

    • Security uber alles 

      • “Homeland security is a symbol used to justify government efforts to curtail civil liberties”. 

The DHS manages a varied set of hazards 

  • Oil spills, weapons of mass destruction, global/national pandemics, cyber terrorism, terrorism, and border control

Homeland Security before it was Homeland Security 

  • Key takeaways 

    • Variation over time in the threats and risks to the homeland

      • Variation over time in governmental priorities 

    • Variation over time in the extent and nature of the government’s response 

    • One continuity: a balancing act between federal, state/local, and non-state roles in the “homeland security enterprise” 

    • Overall, a slow but steady increase in the extent of government action 

Early History, 1776-1916

  • What were the threats to the US mainland and population during this period?

    • Military conquest and external threats on US soil

    • Insurrection 

    • Natural disasters 

    • Lack of governance and weak state capacity 

  • What was the role of the federal government during this period?

    • Keep in mind: the federal government was much more limited in early US history

    • Confederation of states 

  • When it comes to external threats: the role of the federal government is clear

    • The war against foreign adversaries 

      • E.g. US military fought a war with the British military during the War of 1812

    • Expansion of America’s frontier 

      • American Indian Wars: The US military fought war against various Native American tribes 

  • When it came to internal threats: the role of the federal government was less clear and contested 

  • Tension between the federal and state governments 

    • State governors had the authority to request federal assistance during crises

      • The federal government could not intervene independently 

    • The federal government’s role in law enforcement/crisis management is limited by law 

      • Ex Parte Milligan (1866) and Posse Comitatus Act (1878) 

        • Established limits on military and federal authority in civilian law enforcement 

    • Questions of capacity: 

      • Funds are more limited, and appropriation is more complicated 

      • Travel was slower, state governments closer to crises and quicker to respond 

      • Other technological constraints: think “Cone of Uncertainty” 

  • Significant role for other actors 

    • State and local governments and militias 

    • Non-state relief organizations 

  • Two similar insurrections, two very different responses 

    • Shays rebellion (1786-1787): armed responses to the debt crisis in Western mass 

      • Under the Articles of Confederation, the federal government was unable to finance a force 

      • Eventually, the Massachusetts state militia put down the uprising 

    • The Whiskey Rebellion (1791): an uprising against a tax on whiskey in western PA 

      • Federal troops under George Washington rode there, but the uprising dispersed 

      • Indicated a larger role of the federal government in security issues 

  • Similar dynamics when it comes to terrorists during the period 

    • The slow increase in federal involvement over time 

  • Worker's rights/anarchist attacks 

    • Haymarket affair in 1886 

    • Assassination of President William McKinley in 1901 

    • Los Angeles Times bombing in 1910 

  • Increased action after McKinley's assassination 

    • Increased watch surveillance of anarchists, ultimately leading to the establishment of the FBI 

    • Exclusion of anarchist immigrants: restrictions on entry, removal 

    • Discussions of treating assassinations of high-ranking officials as different types of crime (treating assassinations differently than other types of murder) 

  • Federal government's role in natural disasters 

    • Federal relief funding in aftermath in exceptional cases, goes back to a fire in New Hampshire in 1803 

    • However the role of the federal state is typically very limited 

  • Three example s

    • Johnstown floods (1889) 

      • Dam breach in PA: 2,208 dead 

      • Red Cross took a leading role in the response 

    • Galveston hurricane (1900) 

      • ~8,000 dead

      • Central relief committee for galveston storm sufferers (CRC) and Red Cross 

      • Some early disaster relief funds, but primarily raised by private individuals and disbursed by the federal government 

Civil defense and two hot wars: 1917-1945

  • A period of greater involvement of the federal government in responding to threats 

  • Example: Battle of Columbus (1916) 

    • Pancho Villa and troops attacked the garrison in New Mexico 

      • Attempt to capture arms and equipment 

      • Interpreted by Federal 

  • Before and during WWI, there was a general concern for the protection of Americans at home 

  • The Council of National Defense (1916) was created before the US entered WWI 

    • Emphasis on preparation and coordination 

    • Investigated and made recommendations regarding the availability, production, and increase of war supplies and transportation 

    • And expanded rapidly into state and local-level councils during the conflict 

    • 1939, FDR re-stated the National Defence Council of WWI

  • Some deferral consolidation during the Roosevelt era/WWII 

    • 1933 National Emergency Council 

      • Attempt to coordinate across federal agencies 

    • 1940 National Emergency Council became the Office of Emergency Management 

    • The Office of Civilian Defense inside the OEM to manage domestic attack preparedness/response 

Civil defense and the cold war: 1946-1991

  • Cold War: the main threat was the Soviet (nuclear) attack 

    • Created demand for more civil defense 

    • Congressional responses balanced federal and state responsibilities 

  • National Security Act (1947): more federal control over security 

    • Created the National Security Resources Board (NSRB) 

    • Created the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) 

  • Federal Civil Defence Act (1950): placed civil defense efforts on states 

    • Created the Federal Civil Defence Administration (FDCA) to guide state efforts 

    • Lead to shelter building, attack warning systems, and public education efforts 

  • Further see-sawing in responsibility of the federal vs. state/local government over coming decades 

Emergency Management: 1979-2001

  • Piecemeal approach to emergency management since the 1930s: 

    • Reconstruction Finance Corporation (1932) disbursed funds after disasters 

    • Multiple small federal agencies partially responsible 

  • 1960s/1970s: numerous severe natural disasters 

    • 1964 Alaska earthquake: 9.2 on the Richter scale, 2nd strongest (recorded) of all time (131 dead) 

    • Various damaging hurricanes 

    • Clear that emergency management was weak 

  • The Federal Management Agency (1979) was established under Carter to mitigate against, prepare for, and respond to natural disasters 

    • FEMA remit expanded under Reagan to include both natural disasters and homeland attacks 

    • Clinton elevated FEMA to a Cabinet-level position 

  • A number of serious bombings in the 1990s 

    • World Trade Center (1993) 

    • Oklahoma City Bombing (1995) 

  • Response to these attacks not always adequate 

  • Growing demand for integration of emergency management and intelligence work during the Clinton administration

Summary from lecture 1: 

  • Homeland security has gone through many stages during the history of the United States 

  • Disasters (including terrorism) were always around 

  • Early on, states were responsible for managing disasters but the federal government's role has grown over time 

  • immigration/border control came in the 1900s 

  • Civil defense added during and after two World Wars and the Cold War 

  • Emergency management emerged with FEMA, in the 1970s-1980s

  • U.S. homeland security changes come after disasters

 

Al Qaeda- the decade before 2001

  • The organization was not a new threat 

    • Founded in 1988 in Pakistan, by veterans of the Soviet-Afghan War 

      • Founder and early leader: Osama bin Laden 

      • Based in Sudan: 1992-1996

      • Then based in Afghanistan until 2001 

    • Goals: political and religious 

      • Spearhead and Islamist revolution and establish an Islamic states 

      • Counter US influence in Islamic world, especially opposed to presence and involvement of US troops – as well as regional governments seen as supporting US interest 

  • Many of these attacks were not on US soil 

    • And they were of a different magnitude than 9/11 

  • Yet, 9/11 wasn’t the first time: 

    • Al Qaeda planned attacked the World Trade Center 

      • 1993 truck bomb in garage of North Tower killed 6 people and injured 1000+ 

    • Al Qaeda planned to fly an airplane into a US target

      • 1996 Bojinka plot (attempted) 

      • Plans involved, amongst other things, flying an airplane into CIA headquarters in Langley

9/11 Hijackers – Who were they 

  • 15 of 19 were Saudi 

  • Four pilots, the rest were muscle 

  • Several met in Hamburg, Germany 

  • Traveled to US months/year in advance of attacks 

  • Meticulous planning 

    • Flew the routes beforehand 

Al Qaeda – 20th hijackers 

  • Ramzi bin al-Shibh 

    • Repeatedly denied visa 

  • Mohamed al-Qahtani 

    • Turned away by an immigration inspector 

  • Zacarias Moussaoui 

    • Held on immigration violation as a pretext to investigate suspicious behavior 

Terrorism: definition and objectives 

  • Definition: a politically motivated attack by a non-state actor against non-combatant (civilian) targets for the purpose of influencing a group larger than the immediate victims 

  • Key components: 

    • Actor: non-state actor 

    • Target: civilians 

    • Strategic goals beyond the violence itself (means to an end) 

  • Terroism is a strategy rather than an identity 

    • Weak actors use terrorism as a strategy to fight stronger adversaries 

    • “Deed as propaganda” 

The targets 

  • American economy

  • The american military (the pentagon) 

    • Meant to damage the militaries reputation

First signs of a problem: flight 11 

  • 8:14am: flight 11 is hijacked: pilots and some crew are killed and hijackers turn off the transponder 

  • 8:19am: flight attendant from flight 11 called in the emergency from an air phone 

  • What do you notice about the recording? 

    • They don't know the true severity of the event that is about to happen

  • Systems were not conducive for information and response 

    • First, air traffic controllers were confused and tried to make contact with Flight 11 

    • Flight 11 seen to be heading south towards New York, but no one understood why – and response was slow 

    • No sense of what was planned, so less sense of urgency 

Putting hijacking in perspective 

  • Hijackings: quite common for much of 20th century 

    • Rarely led to fatalities 

  • “Golden Age of Hijacking” 

    • 1989-1972 

    • 130 US based hijackings 

    • 305 globally 

    • 46 people killed in total 

More hijacking: the fog of war 

  • 8:42am: Flight 175 hijacked over North New Jersey 

  • 8:50am: FLight 77 is hijacked over southern Ohio 

  • Both flights turns off transponders, become very difficult to track 

  • At first, air traffic controllers didn’t know what to think 

    • Controllers in audio though Flight 11 was heading for DC 

    • Controllers responsible for DC area, and therefore FLight 77, first thought it was their flight that hit the South tower at 9:03am 

  • Later, they didn’t know who were the threats 

    • Other planes were suspected 

    • Other explosions were reported 

  • Attempts to reach military, but response is slow 

AA Flight 11 and UA Flight 175 Hit the WTC 

  • AA Flight 11 

    • Boston to LAX 

    • Hit the North Tower at 8:45 am 

  • United Flight 175 

    • Boston to LAX 

    • Hit the South Tower at 9:03 am

Flight 77 hit the Pentagon at 9:37 am 

United 93 and a New Mindset 

  • After Flight 77 hit the Pentagon, attempts to respond changed 

  • US airspace closed at 9:45 am (Operation Yellow Ribbon) 

  • Shootdown order for remaining hijacked plane (Flight 93) 

  • But FLight 93 has already crashed in PA at 10:02 am 

    • Passengers onboard learned of events and fought back, so pilots decided to crash the plane 

  • And Air Force pilots in the air were not aware of the order anyway

After the Attacks 

First Responders 

  • High risk situation 

  • Police, fire, civilians 

  • Problems with command center, interoperable communications 

“Second” Responders 

  • Hazardous work environment 

  • Only 23 people freed from the rubble 

Consequences 

Direct consequences 

  • World Trade Center 

    • Around 2,600 dead 

    • Two towers and a nearby building (bldg. 7) collapsed 

    • Damage to other structures 

  • Pentagon 

    • 125 dead 

    • Partial damage to one side of the building 

Indirect consequences 

  • Stocks fell short term, but resilient long term 

  • Airline and insurance sectors particularly troubled 

  • Productivity of NY fell, but the rest of the country is unclear 

  • Possible long term health effects 

Behavioral consequences 

  • People adapted 

    • Sometimes good - resilient economy 

    • Sometimes bad - from flying to driving 

      • 1600 additional road fatalities in year after 2001 

        • 6x the number of people who died in the 4 planes 

      • “Substitution effect” 

      • Affected regions where driving is more necessary 

    • Dread and unknown amplify fear 

Psychological consequences 

  • Stress-related anxiety was prevalent across the U.S. 

  • Those who were present had the largest problems 

  • Even seeing it on TV or hearing about it from a friend could induce problems 

Modern global terrorism, U.S. terrorist attacks, 9-11 attacks (cont.) 

  • In addition to being the largest single loss-of-life terrorist attack, 9-11 has become a paragon of modern terrorism

    • It was a mass casualty event 

    • It took full advantage of the media 

    • It attacked recognizable symbols of American and Western power 

    • It affected the psyche of American public 

  • The events also lead to a massive overhaul of U.S. terrorism preparation and response 

  • Ot also helped Al Qaeda recruit new members 

Preparedness for Attack: 9/11 commission report 

  • Conclusion: despite warning signs , US was unprepared at the macro and micro-level 

  • At the macro-level: the most important failure was one the imagination. We do not believe that leaders understood the gravity of the threat

  • Relevant agencies/departments were designed to fight the last war 

    • The cold war, which involved a large, military powerful state adversary 

    • Not a non-state actor 

  • Summary of 9/11 commission report 

    • CIA: not designed for intelligence gathering about non-state/paramilitary actors 

    • DoD: focused on state threats 

    • NORAD and FAA: prepared for very different hijacking scenarios 

    • FBI: weak at intelligence sharing and preparation for domestic threats 

      • The FBI’s approach to investigation was care-specific, decentralized, and geared towards prosecutors 

  • Digging into the intelligence failures: relevant US authorities didn’t quite connect the dots 

  • FBI

    • Warned of AQ in flight training 

    • Al Qahtani and Moussaoui dots were not connected 

  • CIA

    • Chatter from overseas led counterterrorism center to believe large attacks was imminent 

  • Poor intel sharing 

  • At the micro level 

  • Permeable borders and immigration controls 

    • “Neither the State Department's consular offices nor the immigration and naturalization services inspectors were considered full partners in national counterterrorism efforts”. 

  • Permeable aviation security 

    • Metal detectors for guns, not knives 

    • Individuals on terror watch list not automatically added to no-fly list 

    • Cockpit doors, but not reinforced 

    • Training to peacefully resolve situation