The development and recognition of homeland security law

Abstract

This thesis considers those laws created since September 11, 2001, in direct response to the terrorist attack, and intended to protect the American Homeland from further attacks. The paper discusses whether a practice area of Homeland Security Law has arisen commensurate with the growth of Homeland Security as a separate professional discipline. Just as Congress passed thousands of pages of legislation in response to the events of September 11, 2001, the Department of Homeland Security, created by one of those new laws, is churning out thousands of pages of federal regulations, and thousands of federal workers now seek to regulate and to impose new legal standards, on U.S. citizens and businesses. After reviewing the Congressional, Executive, and legal profession's responses to September 11, 2001, a survey was created and sent to those attorneys who hold themselves out as practicing or teaching "Homeland Security Law." The intent was to determine whether the legal profession should now recognize Homeland Security Law as a separate practice area, and if not, what steps are necessary before a practice area is recognized. Interviews were also conducted with representative experts in private and public practice and the Academy. A substantial majority in each survey, and in the interviews, found that anti-terrorism laws, emergency management and critical infrastructure resiliency and protection are included within the area of "Homeland Security Law". A working definition of Homeland Security Law then, is "those laws and regulations enacted or promulgated to ensure domestic security from man made or natural attack or disaster."