Changing Homeland Security: What is Homeland Security?
Abstract
This report published in the June 2008 edition of the Homeland Security Affairs Journal, attempts to address the question of what exactly is Homeland Security and what exactly do these words mean? The report mentions that even now there is not exact definition of Homeland Security. Furthermore, the report presents seven defensible definitions of homeland security. These definitions -- and there may be more than seven -- are ideal types (as that phrase was used by Max Weber) and are based on assertions about what homeland security emphasizes or ought to emphasize. In a metaphorical sense, each definition represents a set of interests that claims a niche in the homeland security ecosystem. As in a biological system, these semantic entities struggle for resources to sustain themselves, to grow, and to reproduce their point of view within the rest of the ecosystem. As the homeland security ecosystem continues to evolve and interact with its environment, one can expect variation on particular aspects of the definitions, selection by others of the pieces of the definition that confer the most survival value, and reproduction elsewhere in the ecosystem of particular homeland security definitions. More specifically, the definitions include: Terrorism, All hazards, Terrorism and Catastrophes, Jurisdictional Hazards, Meta Hazards, National Security and Security ''ber Alles. Finally, the report argues that the absence of agreement can be seen as grist for the continued evolution of homeland security as a practice and as an idea. Even if people did agree to define homeland security with a single voice, there would still be the matter of behavior. What people, organizations, and jurisdictions do under the homeland security banner is as instructive as how they define the term.
Description
This article appeared in Homeland Security Affairs (June 2008), v.4 no.2
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Homeland Security Affairs Journal, Volume VII - 2011, 10 Years After: The 9/11 Essays
Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security (CHDS) (Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate SchoolCenter for Homeland Defense and Security, 2011);10 Years After: the 9/11 Essays. Homeland Security Affairs (HSA) is pleased to present this special collection of essays in remembrance of the ten-year anniversary of September 11, 2001. We chose to honor those who lost ... -
Homeland Security Affairs Journal, Volume IV - 2008: Issue 2, June
Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security (CHDS) (Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate SchoolCenter for Homeland Defense and Security, 2008-06);June 2008. How do we define “homeland security?” Is it best addressed at a local, state, or national level? These are the underlying questions posed by our authors in this issue of Homeland Security Affairs. In “What is ... -
Homeland Security Affairs Journal, Volume II - 2006: Issue 2, July
Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security (CHDS) (Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate SchoolCenter for Homeland Defense and Security, 2006-07);July 2006. The July 2006 issue of Homeland Security Affairs offers articles about risk perception, domestic right wing extremist groups, social network analysis, and the impact of foreign policy on homeland security. It ...