Abstract:
The report below is a decision support paper for the Border and transportation security directorate, which is a directorate under the department of homeland security. The main purpose of this directorate is to ensure the safety of the United States’ borders and transport infrastructure. The main objective of this paper is to analyze the objectives of the DTS and determine whether they are in alignment with the objectives of the department of homeland security. This ensures that the directorate works towards achieving the overall goal of the DHS as stipulated in its objectives. This ensures efficiency as duplication of roles with other directorates in the DHS is eliminated. The report will also examine the agencies priorities in order to determine whether they are aligned with the departmental priorities. Any noted misalignments will be identified and recommendations provided on aligning the
Purpose statement:
The Border and transportation security directorate is a directorate under the department of homeland security tasked with ensuring the safety of the United States’ borders and transport infrastructure (Department of Homeland Security, 2016). The United States has some porous borders that lead to the policies in place for migration being ineffective. This has resulted in security challenges for the country. The main aim of the BTS is to address the challenges the country faces as a result of ineffective policies. The main objective of this paper is to analyze the objectives of the DTS and determine whether they are in alignment with the objectives of the department of homeland security. This ensures that the directorate works towards achieving the overall goal of the DHS as stipulated in its objectives. This ensures efficiency as duplication of roles with other directorates in the DHS is eliminated.
Background discussion:
Border and Transport Security directorate is a directorate within the Department of Homeland Security that is responsible for ensuring border safety and security. It is responsible for security at land, air and maritime border points across the (United States Department of Homeland Security, 2016). The United States has faced security issues for a long time many of which have been linked to porous borders. Examples of these issues include drug smuggling and illegal immigration, particularly at the US Mexico border. Security at airports came to the limelight after the September 11 2001 attacks in New York and Washington that led to the crashing of hijacked passenger jets into buildings. After these attacks, there was the urgent need to tighten security at border points and at transport infrastructure which led to the establishment of the BTS. The BTS was tasked with a number of responsibilities, namely; authorization of entry into the United States, detection of legitimate business and securing the borders of the country while complying with immigration laws (United States Department of Homeland Security, 2016).
Analysis methodology discussion
The mission of the DHS is to prevent terrorism and enhance security, secure and manage borders, enforce and administer immigration laws, safeguard and secure cyberspace, strengthen national preparedness and resilience. These are the overall missions of the department of homeland security. As a directorate, the BTS is responsible for ensuring security and management of borders as well as transport infrastructure, enforcing and administering immigration laws and to prevent terrorism and enhance security. These tasks have to be carried out with the assistance of other government agencies. For example, border control is usually carried out with the help of the state police of the state where the border lies. International relations are also important in order to coordinate security across borders (The White House, 2010). An analysis of a number of DHS documents will be carried out in order to determine whether the priorities of the directorate are in alignment with the priorities of the department.
Summary and findings
When compared to other directorates, the BTS received a total budget of 30.3% of the total allocated to the department of homeland security. This is a large amount compared to the secret service and the United States coast guard which received a combined 30.1% of the total budget. This increase in budget allocation can be attributed by the DHS’s focus on increasing security within the country. This can be attributed to the increased surveillance which resulted in the agency increasing security at vulnerable points in the country. Majority of these resources were spent on increased surveillance at border points, particularly to the South of the United States in order to prevent illegal immigration as well as drug smuggling.
Security at border points is very important. However, total closure of the borders would result in lost economic activity as these border points are the points where legal goods and authorized people get into the country. The BTS has therefore a delicate task of balancing the security needs of the country without affecting the economic activities negatively. As a result of increased security needs, the personnel required by the BTS have increased significantly which has led to an increase in the budget allocation needed. The BTs reported apprehension of at least 100,000 illegal immigrants who mainly try to access the country through the country’s southern border (Department of Homeland Security, 2014).
The emergence of the Islamic State in the Middle East has also applied pressure to the BTS. IS views the United States as an enemy and has reportedly said that attacking the United States is its ultimate goal (Massimo, 2015). Attacks in Europe and in the Middle East that have been attributed to the Islamic state have resulted in the United States increasing its preparedness. The BTS is responsible for ensuring security at entry points into the country and is therefore on the forefront of protecting the country against these attacks. However, recent developments have shown that the United States is vulnerable from homegrown attacks that have been influenced by IS. This means that other directorates within the DHS have taken up responsibility in ensuring the safety of United States citizens.
As mentioned in the missions of the BTS, its missions are to ensure border security, enhance safe trade and ensure adherence to immigration laws (Department of Homeland Security, 2014). A recent development in security is the changing of threats from physical to cyber threats. Cyber threats have a huge potential to cause disruption in many ways. For example, the BTS is reliant on technology in its work. However, these systems are vulnerable to cyber threats and the BTS does not have the capacity to address them fully. In the modern world, securing physical borders is only half of the work. It is important for the country to protect its virtual borders and this means engaging with risks online (Department of Homeland Security, 2014).
The capacity of the BTS to deal with such threats is limited. Work therefore needs to be done to ensure that this directorate is able to cope with emerging threats. For example, airport infrastructure is controlled by technology. Air traffic control relies on computers and other equipment such as radar to track aircraft in the airspace. An attack on these systems can lead to problems for the BTS. Similarly, the BTs itself relies on information systems for quick and easy storage and retrieval of information about people. An attack on these systems that would lead to them being taken down would mean that the BTS would effectively be working blind. For example, the BTS would either have to decide to completely shut a border point to ensure security or open it to everyone to facilitate trade. This would lead to a problem in either way. The BTS therefore needs to be empowered to deal with modern threats to borders and security, many of which are related to the cyber world.
Recommendations:
The border and transportation directorate is in charge of ensuring security at border points, ensuring security of transport infrastructure such as airports and maritime ports and ensuring adherence to immigration laws (Department of Homeland Security, 2014). This ensures that the security of the country is not compromised while at the same time fostering trade, which relies on borders and entry points (Department of Homeland Security, 2014).
The budget allocation for the department is seen to be in relation to its importance within the country. More resources have been allocated to the directorate to increase its ability to fulfill its mandate. This is especially true as a result of emerging threats to the country. Increased budget allocations have led to the increased capacity of the department to monitor borders entry points effectively to ensure that only legal goods and people get through. More border patrol agents have been hired, to bring the total to over 20,000 agents who are responsible for ensuring that illegal immigrants and illegal goods are not smuggled into the country (United States Department of Homeland Security, 2010). This is particularly important because of the relative instability in some countries in South and Central America as a result of drug cartels (United States Department of Homeland Security, 2010).
Proliferation of arms is also a major problem in these countries and it has necessitated increased surveillance by the border and transportation directorate in order to ensure the security of American citizens from illegal drugs and weapons. However, the BTS remains ill equipped to deal with emerging cyber threats and has to rely on other departments of the DHS. This is a major shortcoming as the BTS is on the forefront of ensuring security in the country. Reliance on other directorates leads to bureaucracies and delays which have a detrimental effect to national security. In order for the BTS directorate to effectively achieve its objectives, it has to be empowered to deal with such threats, many of which affect its work directly.
References
Massimo, C. (2015) Homeland Security, ISIS and the Fight Against Fear. Retrieved 3/10/2016 from: http://time.com/4157583/homeland-security-isis-and-the-fight-against-fear/
The White House (2010) Declaration by The Government Of The United States Of America and The Government Of The United Mexican States Concerning Twenty-First Century Border Management Retrieved 3/10/2016 from: https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/declaration-government-united-states-america-and-government-united-mexican-states-c
