Description
Part I:
1. List and describe three appropriate roles for the Department of Defense intelligence capabilities in supporting homeland security enterprise.
2. What is the legal issue for DoD engagement.
3. Explain why you think providing effective intelligence support to the homeland security enterprise is or is not a threat to civil liberties and the privacy of our nation’s citizens.
Do not include quotes in your posting since if you were in a class talking aloud, you likely would not be using direct quotes; instead, as necessary, paraphrase what you need to convey. You need to show me good critical thinking skills and not quotes written by others. Formulating your own thoughts from analyzing new information and studying established work is what we need for successful experts of the future. You must include at least one source per paragraph and thus include it in your reference section as best as you can (hint – not just a URL).
Part II:
Below I have 2 post please provide a response to both. 200 words each with reference (WITHIN THE LAST 5 YEARS).
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Post 1: The first appropriate role is to support the homeland enterprise with collection due to the DoDs expansive collection capacity. For example, the NSA conducts a significant amount of domestic collection according to Erik Dahl (2011). This collection is primarily focused on electronic communications and is critical for indications and warnings. Secondly, US Northern Command contributes to homeland security by helping to coordinate reconnaissance assets among other tasks, but tends to focus collection on threats outside of the country (Dahl 2011). Lastly, the DoD should feed information, raw data or finished intel, into National Intelligence Centers. These fusion centers rely on external sources in order to develop a complete threat awareness picture so DoD support is crucial.
Protecting civil liberties is a legal issue for the DoD because of the sensitive nature of collecting data on USPERS. Perhaps that is why military and other national security intelligence has not been used domestically to any great degree according to Eric Dahls article Domestic Intelligence Today: More Security but Less Liberty? (2011). The concern is that the DoD will overstep their authorities when it comes to collecting, retaining, and disseminating domestic intelligence. Only certain DoD agencies are authorized to collect intelligence on USPERS domestically or abroad which helps reduce the potential for civil liberties violations.
If done correctly, intelligence support to the homeland security enterprise should not be a threat to civil liberties or privacy because it should be targeted towards smaller groups or individuals, not the entire population. According to Berkeley professor Cathrine Crump, Civil liberties problems arise when you engage in the mass tracking of hundreds of millions of Americans, most of whom are completely innocent of any wrongdoing (Cump 2004). By this definition, mass surveillance of persons would infringe on their privacy but targeted surveillance would be justified as long as proper protocols were followed.
One of the examples in the article is the Automatic License Plate Reader Technology currently in use for detecting stolen vehicles. If used correctly, the plate reader should scan the plate and search a database of missing vehicles. Where this technology can start to infringe on civil liberties is to scan the pate and then search databases for late child support payments, missing IRS taxes, or searching for certain demographic information. This is where technology can start to overstep its intended use. The ALPR has been in use in several states and it’s a non issue since politicians recognize the utility of the law enforcement tool. Any intelligence support given to the homeland security enterprise should be scrutinized to make sure its not being misused.
References:
Dahl, Eric K. (2011). Domestic Intelligence Today: More Security but Less Liberty?
Rigoglioso, Marguerite. (2014). Civil Liberties and Law in the Era of Surveillance. Stanford Law School. Accessed August 15, 2022. https://law.stanford.edu/stanford-lawyer/articles/civil-liberties-and-law-in-the-era-of-surveillance/.
Post 2: List and describe three appropriate roles for the Department of Defense intelligence capabilities in supporting homeland security enterprise.
USNORTHCOM– U.S. Northern Command was created following the attacks of 9/11 to better coordinate military assets domestically and support the homeland security mission and agencies. The Homeland Security Act of 2002 passed by President Bush was the impetus for the change and directed NORTHCOM to manage the Civil Support teams and CBRNE capabilities of the military to better assist and support requests from state and local entities while also developing strategies and countermeasures for deterring attacks directed against the United States and Canada (Winslow, 2013). For the intelligence community, NORTHCOM creates another layer of information sharing and processing of intelligence that requires coordination with other DoD assets as well as the homeland security community as they require both foreign intelligence support to manage direct threats against the homeland by foreign adversaries as well as homeland security intelligence to work with other federal, state, and local agencies to counter threats posed within the country. NORTHCOM should serve as one of the primary intermediates between the homeland security and homeland defense agencies and intelligence communities.
Countering transnational crime and securing borders- The DoD has supported the homeland security mission of securing our Nation’s borders and providing intelligence and information to DHS agencies regarding transnational organized crime and drug smuggling activities (U.S. NORTHCOM, n.d.). The DoD supports domestic agencies such as Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the US Coast Guard, and DHS with both active intelligence collected by aviation, maritime, and land-based monitoring systems as well as equipment and personnel used in support of these agencies. The DoD is also a part of the broader IC and needs to continue to actively evaluate and share DoD specific intelligence with domestic intelligence agencies to ensure cooperation and strengthen the quality of the data being assessed and acted on.
International cooperation- NORTHCOM and DOD run annual exercises with Canada, the Bahamas, The Caribbean Islands, and Mexico due to sharing of both land and/or maritime territorial waters with them (US NORTHCOM, n.d.). Building and maintaining these relationships and sharing intelligence information between bordering countries strengthens the security of the Nation. The DOD acts as the coordinating element for these exercises and continues to build intelligence networks and avenues for cooperation with our closest neighbors, in turn increasing the ability to detect and identify threats to our borders. Intentional cooperation is a vital part of our homeland security mission and DoD has already built the relationships and integrated allies into their intelligence networks.
What is the legal issue for DoD engagement.
One of the major legal issues for the DoD operating within the homeland is the Posse Comitatus Act and the ability for federal military troops to be used domestically, especially in law enforcement operations. The National Guard is often the subject of Posse Comitatus as they have multiple means of being activated, either by their home state governor using state dollars under state active duty status, Title 32 status with state control but funded by the federal government, or Title 10 which is full-time active duty status ordered by the President and paid for with federal dollars (National Guard Association, 2018). The exception for Posse Comitatus is under Title 32, where the Governor of the state is authorized to use it’s National Guard troops for law enforcement as long as the state retains command (National Guard Association, 2018). Posse Comitatus also limits the ability for the military to actively collect and share information and intelligence within the borders of the United States and share it with domestic agencies. However, with the introduction of NORTHCOM, some of these barriers have been reduced and intelligence and information sharing systems have improved.
Explain why you think providing effective intelligence support to the homeland security enterprise is or is not a threat to civil liberties and the privacy of our nation’s citizens.
When it comes to a secure homeland, the military is generally focused on the homeland defense aspect and stopping threats before they become dangerous to the homeland. Currently, the focus of their operations is on foreign intelligence and monitoring of our adversaries to identify and prevent the threat from becoming a much larger homeland security issue. In the same regard, homeland security agencies are still trying to balance the trade-off between an increase in the willingness to conduct intelligence and data collection on U.S. citizens to create a more secure country and respecting the civil liberties granted to U.S. citizens. I think that we are starting to reach a better balance point with some of the revisions to the PATRIOT ACT that still allows for targeted information and intelligence gathering on people suspected of having ties to illegal or terrorist activities, while limiting the governments ability to collect bulk data and access more routine types of information on a broader audience (Klein, Fournay, & Fontaine, 2017). With all the intelligence agencies working towards a similar goal, I believe that having greater intelligence and information sharing between the military and homeland security agencies would only benefit the broader intelligence community and help to coordinate actions and responses before another major event occurs.
Klein, A., Flournay, M., & Fontaine, R. (2017). Surveillance policy: A pragmatic agenda for 2017 and beyond. Center for New American Security. https://s3.amazonaws.com/files.cnas.org/documents/CNAS-Report-Surveillance-Final.pdf
National Guard Association. (2018). NGAUS fact sheet: Understanding the Guard’s Duty Status. http://giveanhour.org/wp-content/uploads/Guard-Status-9.27.18.pdf
U.S. NORTHCOM. (n.d.). Defending the homeland. https://www.northcom.mil/HomelandDefense/#defending-the-homeland
Winslow, T. (2013). The DoD role in homeland security: Past, present, and future. U.S. Army War College. https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA590366.pdf
