Homeland+Security

__**Obama's Progress In Homeland Security**__
By Andrew T



National security is the process of maintaining the survival of the country through the use of economic, military and political power, and the exercise of diplomacy. During Barack Obama’s campaign, Obama made many statements regarding his plans on homeland security. It is now 2010, but has he kept the promises he made during his campaign?

During Obama’s presidential campaign, Obama made many promises regarding homeland security.

One promise that was made was to allocate Homeland Security dollars according to risk and not as a form of general revenue sharing. Turns out, he kept his promise.

In 2009, the Department of Homeland Security awarded $90 million in Operation Stonegarden grants to support security initiatives along the Southwest border. According to the Department of Homeland Security, the department acted on the president's call for increased emphasis on the Southwest border in response to cartel violence along the U.S.-Mexico border. Based on greater risk, heavy cross-border traffic and border-related threat intelligence, nearly 84 percent of the funds went to Southwest border-states.

For the 2010 budget year, the Department of Homeland Security revised its grant guidance for the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) so that a higher percentage of total funding will go to the most at-risk U.S. cities. Based an analysis of relative risk of terrorism faced by the 100 most populous metropolitan statistical areas in the United States, 63 percent of total UASI funding will go to the highest risk cities, up from 55 percent in 2009.

Another promise that he made was that he would create some kind of National Infrastructure Protection Plan. He kept this promise as well. In 2009, under the Obama administration, the Department of Homeland Security issued an updated National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP), "which provides a common plan and unifying structure for the government and private sector to prevent, deter, neutralize, or mitigate deliberate attempts to destroy, incapacitate, or exploit critical infrastructure and key resources."

The updated plan includes a number of improvements in various sectors. For example, features that help determine the risk of chemical facilities, a tool for sports arenas and stadiums to reduce risk through "security vulnerability identification", and a Commercial Facilities Retail and Lodging simulation to better understand infrastructure security issues associated with "soft targets". The Critical Manufacturing Sector Government Coordinating Council, completed the Critical Manufacturing Sector-Specific Plan, and launched an exercise series in partnership with the Transportation Security Administration. A series of exercises were made on dams in Washington to improve disaster resilience and preparedness. A guide was created to assist levee owners in identifying security concerns, coordinating proper response, and establishing partnerships with local law enforcement and first responders. Exercises were created for nuclear facilities to coordinate federal, state, and local law enforcement tactical-response assets with on-site security personnel.

Another promise that Obama made and kept was to increase funding for local emergency planning. In fiscal year 2010, Congress provided $650 million for the Urban Areas Security Initiative to increase cities' preparedness and emergency response capacity. This was $21 million more than Congress appropriated in 2009, but $15 million less than Obama's budget request. In addition, the Department of Homeland Security added two new urban areas to the initiative.

Congress also provided an overall increase in key state and local government first responder assistance for public safety preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery, according to James E. Philipps, a spokesman for the National Association of Counties, which tracks first responder funding.

Obama also promised to deter cyber crime by initiating a grant and training program. He kept this promise as well. On Oct. 1, 2009, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced plans to recruit and hire as many as 1,000 cyber security professionals over the next three years to help protect the nation’s cyber infrastructure, systems and networks. Also, in December, Congress passed an appropriations bill that included $140 million to fund the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative. According to a conference report on the appropriations bill, the total includes an additional 260 positions and $61 million to further the FBI’s investigatory, intelligence gathering and technological capabilities.

Although Obama did keep some of his promises, there are quite a few promises that Obama is still working on and some that he hasn’t fully delivered on. One promise that he hadn’t fully delivered on was to seek more funding for transit security. In the proposed fiscal year 2010 budget, the administration sought roughly $128 million for surface transportation efforts run by the Transportation Security Administration. That was more than double the fiscal year 2009 level of $63 million, which in turn was higher than the nearly $47 million spent in 2008. The final Homeland Security appropriations bill signed on Oct. 28, 2009, did not provide as much money as the administration had sought, but it still represented a big step up from 2009. The bill provides $111 million for TSA's surface transportation activities.

Obama and his administration is working to fulfill as many promises as they can.

Andrew T The following is a link to a news article that talks about how homeland security gave $5.6 million to LRS federal. LRS federal was given this money to conduct air-monitering support for Washington D.C. and the surrounding area. This contract will mainly support the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Health Affairs. The decision was made mainly to protect the health and medical security of the United States. []
 * News Article National Security**

Andrew T
 * Obama Speech to Students of America**

The following is a speech that Obama made to the students of America to tell them about the importance of education. In the speech, he urges students to stay in school and work hard. He tells the student that what they make of their education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. There is no mention of any political initiatives. The speech was televised and little controversial because parents didn't like the fact that he made this speech.

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By Andrew T
 * __Obama's Promises: An Editorial__**

Many people have criticized Obama saying that he is doing nothing for the country. Some people have accused him of not holding true to his promises. Although I believe that its true Obama hasn’t lived up to most of his promises he simply needs a little more time to fulfill them. He made a lot of promises to the country dealing with many different subjects. However there is evidence that Obama is working to fulfill as many of them as possible in the field of homeland security.

One example of Obama trying to fulfill his promise is that of mandating standards for securing personal data. He hasn’t quite met the promise but there has been progress. On April 30, 2009, Rep. Bobby Rush, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, introduced the Data Accountability and Trust Act of 2009. One of the main purposes of the bill is to require "reasonable security policies and procedures to protect data containing personal information”. On December 8, 2009, the bill passed in the House with a voice vote. The next day, it was referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Another promise that is in the works is to improve emergency response plans. He is planning to create a comprehensive coordinating structure that will enhance our ability to work together and effectively deliver recovery assistance. This is obviously a massive project that will take time to develop. The final draft of the framework is due June 1, 2010.

Obama has also promised to improve port security by using better radiation detection. Officials with the Department of Homeland Security's Domestic Nuclear Detection Office are testing a new technology, known as the Advanced Spectroscopic Portal monitor system, that they hope will improve the detection of actual threats while decreasing the number of false positives. Outfitting ports with 1,400 of the new-generation machines would cost an estimated $1.2 billion. In June 2009, the National Research Council said that the gains in accuracy may not justify the cost; the professional panel recommended that Homeland Security not proceed unless key concerns are addressed.

Another promise was to establish regulations to secure chemical plants. On November 6, 2009, the House passed the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act of 2009 by a vote of 230 to 193. Among other things, the bill establishes regulations of security practices at chemical, wastewater and drinking water facilities. It authorizes the secretary of Homeland Security to designate any chemical substance as a substance of concern and sets the threshold quantity for each such substance based on the risks that could result from a terrorist incident.

Obama said that he wanted to prioritize security investments in refineries, pipelines, and power grids. Congress passed a stimulus bill that includes $4.5 billion to upgrade the nation’s electricity grid. Part of that funding will be used to support technological research aimed at making the system more impervious to cyber attacks. For example, in April 2009, intelligence officials told The Wall Street Journal that cyberspies have infiltrated the grid, leaving behind software programs that could be used to shut down our electricity system and cause havoc around the country. Although there has been a lot of work done on defending against cyber attacks, not much has been done on protecting refineries and pipelines.

Another promise was to expand federal bioforensics program for tracking biological weapons. Construction was recently completed on a $143 million laboratory facility at Fort Detrick, Md. In addition to that, the administration has two other things to advance bioforensics. One is to give bioforensics a prominent mention in the National Security Council's November 2009 paper, "National Strategy for Countering Biological Threats." The other is to establish a Task Force on Microbial Forensics under the auspices of the National Science and Technology Council. It is jointly chaired by the CIA, the FBI and Homeland Security.

Obama also wanted to ensure that security is considered and built into the design of new infrastructure, so that our critical assets are protected from the start and more resilient to naturally-occurring and deliberate threats throughout their life-cycle. In the Department of Homeland Security's annual budget, the line item for Infrastructure Protection and Information Security has grown from nearly $807 million in fiscal year 2009 to $899 million for fiscal year 2010.

There are countless more examples of how Obama is working to carry out his promises. Not just in the field of homeland security but in all the fields that he is expected to handle. We can’t expect him to carry out every single promise so soon. We must be patient and give him time because these things can’t just get done overnight.