Homeland security is an American national security term for "the national effort to ensure a homeland that is safe, secure, and resilient against terrorism and other hazards where American interests, aspirations, and ways of life can thrive" to the "national effort to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, reduce the vulnerability of the U.S. to terrorism, and minimize the damage from attacks that do occur." According to an official work published by the Congressional Research Service in 2013, the "Homeland security" term's definition has varied over time.
Military doctrine is the expression of how military forces contribute to campaigns, major operations, battles, and engagements.
Counterintelligence is an activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting activities to prevent espionage, sabotage, assassinations or other intelligence activities conducted for or on behalf of foreign powers, organizations or persons.
National security or national defence is the security and defence of a nation state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of government.
The defense readiness condition (DEFCON) is an alert state used by the United States Armed Forces.
Critical infrastructure is a term used by governments to describe assets that are essential for the functioning of a society and economy – the infrastructure. Most commonly associated with the term are facilities for:
The U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century (USCNS/21), also known as the Hart-Rudman Commission or Hart-Rudman Task Force on Homeland Security, was chartered by Secretary of Defense William Cohen in 1998 to provide a comprehensive review of US national security requirements in the 21st century. USCNS/21 was tasked "to analyze the emerging international security environment; to develop a US national security strategy appropriate to that environment; and to assess the various security institutions for their current relevance to the effective and efficient implementation of that strategy, and to recommend adjustments as necessary".
The Homeland Security Act (HSA) of 2002, was introduced in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks and subsequent mailings of anthrax spores. The HSA was cosponsored by 118 members of Congress. The act passed the U.S. Senate by a vote of 90–9, with one Senator not voting. It was signed into law by President George W. Bush in November 2002.
United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) is one of eleven unified combatant commands of the United States Department of Defense. The command is tasked with providing military support for non-military authorities in the U.S., and protecting the territory and national interests of the United States within the continental United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, The Bahamas, and the air, land and sea approaches to these areas. It is the U.S. military command which, if applicable, would be the primary defender against an invasion of the U.S.
Flexible response was a defense strategy implemented by John F. Kennedy in 1961 to address the Kennedy administration's skepticism of Dwight Eisenhower's New Look and its policy of massive retaliation. Flexible response calls for mutual deterrence at strategic, tactical, and conventional levels, giving the United States the capability to respond to aggression across the spectrum of war, not limited only to nuclear arms.
The United States under secretary of defense for policy (USDP) is a high level civilian official in the United States Department of Defense. The under secretary of defense for policy is the principal staff assistant and adviser to both the secretary of defense and the deputy secretary of defense for all matters concerning the formation of national security and defense policy.
The Continental U.S. NORAD Region (CONR) is a component of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) that provides airspace surveillance and control and directs air sovereignty activities for the continental United States (CONUS). CONR is one of three NORAD regions. The two other Regions are the Canadian NORAD Region (CANR) and the Alaskan NORAD Region (ANR).
The counter-terrorism page primarily deals with special police or military organizations that carry out arrest or direct combat with terrorists. This page deals with the other aspects of counter-terrorism:
Proactive cyber defence means acting in anticipation to oppose an attack through cyber and cognitive domains. It represents the thermocline between purely offensive and defensive action; interdicting, disrupting or deterring an attack or a threat's preparation to attack, either pre-emptively or in self-defence. Common methods include cyber deception, attribution, threat hunting and adversarial pursuit. The mission of the pre-emptive proactive operations is to conduct aggressive interdiction and disruption activities against an adversary using: Psychological operations, Managed Information Dissemination, Precision Targeting, Information Warfare Operations and computer network exploitation and other active threat reduction measures. The proactive defense strategy is meant to improves information collection by stimulating reactions of the threat agents, provide strike options and to enhance operational preparation of the real or virtual battlespace. A measure for detecting or obtaining information as to a cyber attack, or impending cyber operation or for determining the origin of an operation that involves launching a pre-emptive, preventive, or cyber counter-operation against the source. Proactive cyber defence operations pre-emptively engage the adversary
Presidential Decision Directive 62 (PDD-62), titled Combating Terrorism, was a Presidential Decision Directive (PDD), signed on May 22, 1998 by President Bill Clinton. It identified the fight against terrorism a top national security priority.
Homeland Security Centers of Excellence (HS-Centers) are sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. These Centers develop technology and training for police and domestic military units. The Centers were created under the Homeland Security Act in 2002 in order to establish a coordinated, university-based system to increase domestic security measures.
The United States National Strategy for Homeland Security is a formal government response to the events of September 11, 2001 at the Pentagon and World Trade Center. The document issued by President George W. Bush outlines the overall strategic considerations for cooperation between the federal government, states, private enterprises, and ordinary citizens in anticipating future terrorism attacks as well as natural disasters and other incidents of national significance. The National Response Framework is the part of the homeland security national strategy that is a Comprehensive Emergency Management guideline for implementing scalable responses to disasters and other incidents of national significance.
Atlantic Storm was a ministerial exercise simulating the top-level response to a bioterror incident. The simulation operated on January 14, 2005 in Washington, D.C. It was created in part to reveal the current international state of preparedness and possible political and public health issues that might evolve from such a crisis.
Dr. Paul N. Stockton is the President of Paul N Stockton LLC, a strategic advisory firm in Santa Fe, NM. From 2009-2013, Dr. Stockton served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Americas' Security Affairs, where he helped lead the Department's response to Hurricane Sandy. He was responsible for Defense Critical Infrastructure Protection, Western Hemisphere security policy, domestic crisis management, continuity of operations planning, and a range of other responsibilities. While Assistant Secretary, Dr. Stockton also served as Executive Director of the Council of Governors. After serving as Assistant Secretary, Dr. Stockton was the Managing Director of Sonecon LLC, an advisory firm in Washington, DC, from 2013-2020.
Food defense is the protection of food products from intentional contamination or adulteration by biological, chemical, physical, or radiological agents introduced for the purpose of causing harm. It addresses additional concerns including physical, personnel and operational security.
