Agenda Setting

Department of Homeland Security

The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the US revealed that every country is vulnerably susceptible to terrorist attacks. Since then, different countries have adopted different policies and measures that would ameliorate the security of their homelands and reduce their susceptibility to attacks. Among the Coalesced States strategies was the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security.

The Department of Homeland Security, originally created as the Office of Homeland security is a security body that is charged with the responsibility of reducing the vulnerability of the United States to terrorism and natural disasters (Chertoff, 2009). Formation of homeland security was an ideal strategy for combating terrorism and enhancing preparedness and efficient responses to disasters. According to Chertoff, this body was established to protect American nation and its infrastructure from dangers posed by people and materials while at the same time mitigating effects of disasters by strengthening the nation’s emergency preparedness and response systems. (Chertoff, 2009). The idea behind the formation of this umbrella security body was to enhance corporation and intelligence sharing among various agencies responsible for providing security services (Thornburg, 2005).

President George W. Bush signed into law the Homeland Security Act of 2002 on November 25, 2002. The Homeland Security Act of 2002 sanctioned the largest governmental reorganization in the US since the creation of the Department of Defense. The goal was to bring 22 US agencies which were chartered in with domestic terrorism protections under one agency umbrella. This bill was referred to as the USA PATRIOTIC Act bill. The bill received massive support in both the upper and lower chambers. This bill also introduced other aspects that have given the department of homeland security the power to limit individual’s civil liberties. The legislation act of the department...