Running head: ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF DHS DEALING WITH ALL

HAZARDS AND THREATS 1

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF DHS DEALING WITH ALL HAZARDS

AND THREATS

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THREATS 2

Advantages and Disadvantages of DHS Dealing With All Hazards and Threats

The US Department of Homeland Security centralizes the role of protecting US against

man-made and natural hazards and threats. Its duties include aviation security, managing borders

and to enforce immigration laws, disaster resilience and emergency response, cyber security,

preventing terrorism and enhancing general security. Controlling operations between different

agencies through DHS eliminates redundancy that may occur. It creates a connection between

federal agencies that provides proper sharing of intelligence.

To keep US safe, DHS sets policies and systems to stop attacks, prevent man-made

hazards and stay prepared for natural disasters. It implements policies and systems by learning

from previous mistakes and its roles changes to keep up with the country’s current needs. It also

establishes standard measures to be followed in time of crisis response. This enables consistency

in tackling threats on US citizens which makes it easier to handle the aftermath of disasters.

Setting the tackling of the different dangers under one entity comes with its issues. On

threats like terrorism DHS is set up to handle external threats and there is less focus on the ones

within the borders. DHS needs several employees to take on its duties which has proven difficult

to manage. There have been a number of misconduct cases at home and abroad. The department

does not have adequate policies and procedures for employee misdemeanors.

Disorganization at DHS has led to failure in managing disasters. In the case of Hurricane

Katrina in 2005, late evacuation process and delayed reinforcements left more people stranded in

New Orleans. As a result, the supplies depleted quickly leading to more deaths. The regional

government was ready to provide assistance but confliction caused more harm.
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References

Larock, H (2018). Pros and Cons of Homeland Security. https://classroom.synonym.com/what-

are-the-branches-of-homeland-security-12080247.html

Inspector Director (2019). DHS Needs to Improve Its Oversight of Misconduct and Discipline.

https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2019-06/OIG-19-48-Jun19.pdf