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Lesson 1: Cross-disciplinary Perspectives on an Evolving Homeland Security Mission Space

QHSR 2014: Multi-Threat and All-Hazard Homeland Security

QHSR 2014: Multi-Threat and All-Hazard Homeland Security

The context for this course is well described in the 2014 Quadrennial Homeland Security Review:

"THE CORNERSTONE OF HOMELAND SECURITY IS PREVENTING TERRORISM, BUT HOMELAND SECURITY MUST BE MULTI-THREAT AND ALL-HAZARD

Events of the past 12 years demonstrate that we must consider the full range of threats and hazards facing the Nation when setting homeland security strategy and priorities.  The Department is a multi-mission, multi-function agency, covering long-standing functions such as civil defense, emergency response, customs, border control, law enforcement, and immigration.  As one agency, we are able to improve efficiency by identifying the common characteristics among the wide variety of threats and hazards we face and by identifying common ways to address them."

See: U.S. Department of Homeland Security: 2014 Quadrennial Homeland Security Review. Washington, D.C., p. 30. 

While terrorism remains a core mission of homeland security, the homeland security mission space today is manifold and further driven by a set of risk-informed priorities, as also laid out in the 2014 Quadrennial Homeland Security Review:

Five Enduring Core Missions:

  • Prevent terrorism and enhancing security;
  • Secure and manage our borders;
  • Enforce and administer our immigration laws;
  • Safeguard and secure cyberspace;
  • Ensure resilience to disasters;
  • In addition, mature and strengthen the homeland security enterprise itself.
Five Risk-Informed Priorities:
  • Safeguard and Secure Cyberspace
  • Risk Segmentation Approach to Securing and Managing Flows of People and Goods
  • Securing Against the Evolving Terrorism Threat
  • A Homeland Security Strategy for Countering Biological Threats and Hazards
  • Strengthening the Execution of Our Missions Through Public-Private Partnerships 

Further, the National Preparedness Goal, based on Presidential Policy Directive 8 (PPD-8): National Preparedness (2011), introduced a capability-based approach, underlining the importance of collaboration across different professional disciplines of homeland security to provide for the 31 core capabilities necessary to achieve the national preparedness goal as a whole community. The National Preparedness Goal is defined as:

"A secure and resilient nation with the capabilities required across the whole community to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to, and recover from the threats and hazards that pose the greatest risk."

These risks include for example natural disasters, disease pandemics, chemical spills and other man-made hazards, terrorist attacks and cyber attacks.


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