security and defense has always been paramount. The security of its people and defense of its infrastructure are vital to not only the sovereignty of a nation but the well-being of its citizens. Throughout history we have seen nations fall and governments toppled due to its inability to protect itself from both insider and outside threats. America has witnessed these situations time and time again since its birth in 1776. It has also had its own fair share of attempts to cripple its defenses and collapse the country from within. Understanding the concepts of homeland security and homeland defense are vital to preventing, preparing for and minimizing the effects…
Cost-Conscious Culture United States national security professionals must balance the ability to counter strategic threats with the appropriate force structure and capabilities. By FY 2018, according to OMB projections, “the federal government will be spending more on net interest payments than on national defense for the first time in modern history.” The current trends indicate a more fiscally constrained future, forcing the balance be achieved through a cost-conscious culture. It will be…
becoming a scarier place to live in. Our military needs to grow to keep citizens safe, restore peace, and protect allies. So why wouldn’t we increase military spending, what good would come of that except not spending as much, but at what cost? Our safety? The rest of the world is growing in technology and ways to harm the US. We need to be at the top of this chain, and military spending cutbacks will only set us back further. There are many threats that face the united states each day and…
When the planned terror attack of September 11, 2001 occurred, the United States was not prepared for the emotional devastation or destruction that attack would have on so many people. The damage it created cost the United States billions of dollars in damage repair, relief aid, and debris cleanup after the incident occurred. The fact of the matter is the United States was unprepared and thus, this paper will discuss and analyze the response between the World Trade Center attack, as well as…
US Intel Community 1. An element of the National Security Act of 1947 stated “…No United States intelligence information may be provided to the United Nations or any organization affiliated with the United Nations...” Briefly defend this position from an ethical perspective. Whenever the National Security Act of 1947 were precisely constituted, it would have been addressed the National Subversives Security Act since it constituted the administrative model for revolutionists to the United…
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) is a multifaceted organization, providing expertise to America and our allies in order to reduce the potential threat of weapons of mass destruction. This organization was developed to mitigate the potential threat, providing reach-back capabilities, eliminate, and reduce the usage of any chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and high yield explosives. We will discuss the creation of the organization, the Joint Improvised Threat Defeat…
This year, I once again had the pleasure of serving as the Democratic lead for the congressional delegation led by Senator McCain to the Munich security conference. Every time I go to Munich, I appear on a panel to about the global challenges of climate change. The first year, my panel was in the hotel across the street. Then we were moved to the main hotel, but up in the attic. And then this year, we were on the main-stage, in prime time with three current or former heads of state. Our…
and understanding of the cyber domain are just being to mature; thus, the strategy to guide and form the required organizations to support cyber is just being to develop. This paper will consider whether the current national cyber construct is sufficient to address the cyber domains unique geography. Next the paper will examine whether the national organizational structure tasked with cyber operations needs to be reorganized and subsequently require a change to the United States Code (USC).…
Organization Overview The Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) was established in 1991 by the Secretary of Defense to standardize accounting and financial operations and reduce costs associated with these services (“Agency Overview,” n.d.). DFAS is the official finance and accounting arm of the Department of Defense, therefore, it is a federal government agency. Located around the globe, DFAS has over 12,000 employees. The majority of employees work at one of the five primary sites…
cause states to lack a unified language and vision of virtual warfare. A large part of this division is driven from their divergent interests and relative power. An anecdote of this was showcased at the Budapest Conference on Cyberspace (2012) as well as the World Conference on International Telecommunications in Dubai (2012), when both conferences were back-to-back episodes of continual disagreements between predominantly Western caucuses holding a conception of virtual space as an…