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.
The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terrorism, border security, immigration and customs, cyber security, and disaster prevention and management.
The United States secretary of homeland security is the head of the United States Department of Homeland Security, the federal department tasked with ensuring public safety in the United States. The secretary is a member of the Cabinet of the United States. The position was created by the Homeland Security Act following the attacks of September 11, 2001.
In the United States, the Homeland Security Advisory System was a color-coded terrorism threat advisory scale. The different levels triggered specific actions by federal agencies and state and local governments, and they affected the level of security at some airports and other public facilities. It was often called the "terror alert level" by the U.S. media. The system was replaced on April 27, 2011, with a new system called the National Terrorism Advisory System.
Gordon Richard England is an American politician and businessman who was the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense and twice as U.S. Secretary of the Navy in the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush.
The Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the supervision of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The Federal Protective Service (FPS) is the uniformed security police division of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS). FPS is "the federal agency charged with protecting and delivering integrated law enforcement and security services to facilities owned or leased by the General Services Administration (GSA)"—over 9,000 buildings—and their occupants.
The National Cyber Security Division (NCSD) is a division of the Office of Cyber Security & Communications, within the United States Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Formed from the Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office, the National Infrastructure Protection Center, the Federal Computer Incident Response Center, and the National Communications System, NCSD opened on June 6, 2003. The NCSD mission is to collaborate with the private sector, government, military, and intelligence stakeholders to conduct risk assessments and mitigate vulnerabilities and threats to information technology assets and activities affecting the operation of the civilian government and private sector critical cyber infrastructures. NCSD also provides cyber threat and vulnerability analysis, early warning, and incident response assistance for public and private sector constituents. NCSD carries out the majority of DHS’ responsibilities under the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative. The FY 2011 budget request for NCSD is $378.744 million and includes 342 federal positions. The current director of the NCSD is John Streufert, former chief information security officer (CISO) for the United States Department of State, who assumed the position in January 2012.
Michael Chertoff is an American attorney who was the second United States Secretary of Homeland Security, serving under President George W. Bush. He was the co-author of the USA PATRIOT Act. He previously served as a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, as a federal prosecutor, and as Assistant U.S. Attorney General. He succeeded Tom Ridge as U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security on February 15, 2005.
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.
The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) serves as an interagency law enforcement training body for 105 United States government federal law enforcement agencies. The stated mission of FLETC is to "...train those who protect our homeland". It also provides training to state, local, campus, tribal, and international law enforcement agencies. Through the Rural Policing Institute (RPI) and the Office of State and Local Training, it provides tuition-free and low-cost training to state, local, campus and tribal law enforcement agencies.
The Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 is a United States federal statute that establishes the procedure for filling a vacancy in an appointed officer of an executive agency of the government during the time before a permanent replacement is appointed.
Chad Fredrick Wolf is an American government official unlawfully named as the acting United States secretary of homeland security in November 2019. Wolf has also been Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Strategy, Policy, and Plans since 2019.
Elizabeth Neumann is an American former civil servant. In the Trump administration she served from 2017 to 2020 as a senior advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to DHS Secretary John Kelly and Acting DHS Secretary Elaine Duke, and as DHS Assistant Secretary for Threat Prevention and Security Policy to DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan, and Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf. Starting in 2003, she served on the Homeland Security Council in the George. W. Bush administration.
Kevin Kealoha McAleenan is an American attorney and government official who unlawfully served as the acting United States secretary of homeland security from April to November 2019.
John Marshall Mitnick is an American lawyer who served as General Counsel for the United States Department of Homeland Security.
Kirstjen Michele Nielsen is an American politician and attorney who is a former United States secretary of homeland security. She is a former principal White House Deputy Chief of Staff to President Donald Trump and was chief of staff to John F. Kelly during his tenure as Secretary of Homeland Security.
Beginning in 2019, multiple appointments of acting officials in the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) were questioned, on the basis of whether the appointments were legal under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 and the Homeland Security Act of 2002.
Brian Murphy was the acting United States Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Intelligence and Analysis from May 10, 2020 until August 2, 2020.
Olivia Troye is an American who was formerly a homeland security official having started her career in the Pentagon after 9/11, working at the National Counterterrorism Center, the Department of Energy’s Office of Intelligence and the Office of Intelligence & Analysis at the Department of Homeland Security. She went on to work in the Office of the Vice President of the United States as the Homeland Security and Counterterrorism advisor to Vice President Pence, serving on the White House Coronavirus Task Force and as his lead staffer on the task force. She left the White House in August 2020. She has been an outspoken critic against the Trump Administration’s response on the Covid-19 pandemic. She publicly stated her support for Joe Biden for the November 2020 U.S. elections.
