Paper Sample on Homeland Security Operations: Safeguarding Against Threats and Disasters in Los Angeles

Introduction

The Department of Homeland Security in the United States is extensive and decentralized. The department is composed of several support components and directorates and seven active and operational component agencies. Every agency and department has a different responsibility to maintain safety within the Homeland and the inhabitants within the selected areas (Reese, 2016). The departments are responsible for specific activities such as curtailing the flow of drugs into the nation, protecting the president, helping communities recover from the effects of natural disasters, and preventing potential terrorist attacks in the identified area. The advancement and accomplishment of the Homeland Security Department's mission are encouraged by the increased unity that encourages every individual within the department to prepare and respond to any crisis that might hit the identified region (Reese, 2016). Therefore, this paper presents the evaluation of three significant events that are vulnerable and face many threats to security cases. Some of the identified events include the political convention, explosive terrorist attacks and storms, and severe weather events within Los Angeles as the specified region.

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Political Conventions

The Department of Homeland Security awarded both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions designated National Security Special Events when visiting Los Angeles for their political events. The Department of Homeland Security has identified these political conventions in the area as most vulnerable and would possibly face attacks and violence that would affect attendants' safety (Egli, 2013). Therefore, the Department of Homeland Security designated those political conventions the special security events through staffing and an average of two thousand six hundred to three thousand personnel from the department. The identified personnel are designated in different parts of the nation with a section of the team posted at Los Angeles grounds to guard the developing political events (Egli, 2013). The personnel is also dispatched to work alongside other federal agencies to ensure security in different political conventions is excellently applied.

Leadership Components

Secretary. Before every political convention event is carried out in Los Angeles, the Homeland Security Department's leadership is essential in assessing the purposes and activities needed to realize proper security. For instance, the Secretary of Homeland Security tours and reviews conventions in different places within the selected areas in Los Angeles (Egli, 2013). The secretary of the Department of Homeland Security is also responsible for receiving daily briefings and updates on every detail of the component activity at the political convention sites.

Operational Components

The United States Secret Service. The communication processes are also considered an essential subject needed to evaluate the team's security components that are dispatched into the political convention fields. The United States Secret Service leads the communication questions related to the general joint information centers from the actual grounds. The team is also responsible for designing and implementing the operational security plan for both the political convention sites identified within the interests (Egli, 2013).

The United States team secret service is also responsible for boosting security in the selected spots for the political convention by implementing a secure environment for the dignitaries, other nominees, participants, and the general public who attend the political traditions of either party. Therefore, when the need increases when the team needs a tactical response to the developing security threat, the Secret Service is always ready to respond by deploying other teams of specialized units that possess the unique experience to react to the subjected threats on the grounds of political events.

Federal Emergency Management Agency. The team is also considered an essential group concerning the consequences of management roles within the Homeland Security Department. The agency is responsible for providing planning support for the state, federal, and local partners within the political convention grounds identified in Los Angeles when preparing for the actual political convention (Kress & Grogger, 2008). On the other hand, the agency is also responsible for providing planned support as part of the preparation. The local partners within Los Angeles are then accountable for mobilizing capabilities, disaster response teams, and assets that are needed to address the developing vulnerabilities and threats to security in every political convention.

Transport Security Administration. It is also a sensitive category that assists the Department of Homeland Security on the Secret Service team. The team is responsible for screening personal belongings and the people when they are entering into the events. The team sets up walk-through metal detectors used to screen the possibility of individuals carrying along a weapon when getting into the conventions (Egli, 2013). An individual holding a weapon in the political patterns puts the attendance at risk; therefore, the homeland security departments have to react effectively to ensure proper performance in maintaining a healthy environment free from vulnerabilities. The officers who are also designated to assist with the campaign events compose the National Deployment Forces, including seventy-five hand-selected officers and volunteers.

Explosive Terrorist Attack

The events of explosive terrorist attacks also attract the interventions of the Department of Homeland Security. In Los Angeles, the event is evident in several places, making it one of the most vulnerable occasions that need essential security services and reactions. Explosive terrorist attacks are described as events where hostile non-state actors deploy improvised explosive devices that are man-portable in specific places without the people’s concentration (Reese, 2016). The set device explodes and risks several people's lives, making it a threat to the targeted area. On several occasions, explosive terrorist attacks have been witnessed in Los Angeles thus raising the alarm of considering the events as much vulnerable and threatened in the actual service delivery practices. Therefore, the Department of Homeland Security would prepare and prevent potential explosive terrorist attacks by mobilizing various personnel to the event.

Leadership Component

Secretary. The component of the Department of Homeland Security leadership teams are the primary federal officials for the management of any developing domestic incidents. The secretary docket is responsible for activating various practical Emergency Support Functions and structures for the response that officially interacts with the head of investigations at the FBI to implement a law enforcement investigation action (Kress & Grogger, 2008). The secretary team also plays the role of recommending an appropriate authorization provided by the president to allow the deployment of the state’s resources to assist the local jurisdictions and states such as the cases in Los Angeles. Their resources are overwhelmed when reacting to terror cases (Reese, 2016). The secretary of the Department of Homeland Security is also responsible for ensuring the incident information is disseminated and prepared to the public.

Military Advisor also joins the Department of Homeland Security as the leadership organ. The military advisor is used as the focal point within the department responsible for collaborating the homeland defense and incidents management needed to improve the organizational performances to meet the need to respond to the security threats in the regions (Kress & Grogger, 2008). The military advisor docket personnel also helps in the reactions to the events of explosive terrorist events by coordinating and scrutinizing the operations of DoD by facilitating the military assistants to the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

Operational Components

United States Customs and Board Protection. The identified body within the Department of Homeland Security works with the low enforcement in Los Angeles to deploy various transportation means to react to the explosive terrorist events recorded in the affected area. The component is also responsible for riveting the departure of flights used to identify any essential terrorist subjects who are suspected to be active individuals linked to the attacks and are attempting to flee (Reese, 2016). After identifying the suspects, the Customs and Border Protection team will investigate the lead to the terror attack through various databases owned and managed by the Department of Homeland Security.

The Transportation Security Administration is also an active team needed to promote the activities used to prevent terrorist events in the attacked area. The team is responsible for activating the groups in the Visual Intermodal Preparedness and Response that initiate other heightened operations for any outbound flights. The team's increased functions comprise the intensified security measures seen throughout the regions affected at the airports of Los Angeles (Kress & Grogger, 2008). The effects might include increased trace detections for the explosives, gate checks, canine deployments, and activities that detect suspected terror attackers' behaviors.

Storms and Severe Weather Events

Department of Homeland Security is also responsible for reacting to storms and severe weather outcomes in affected areas of Los Angeles. Major hurricanes or storms affect Los Angeles, thus resulting in an indirect economic diverse impact of significant values (Bush, 2003). Therefore, the Department of Homeland Security's preparedness and response help the affected communities in Los Angeles recover through the application of different structures.

Leadership Components

Secretary. The secretary is also an essential leadership component of the Department of Homeland Security that is active in reacting to the region's storms and severe weather events. The secretary is responsible for reaching out to the governor of the affected areas in Los Angeles and mayors of the cities within the path of the storm, thus ensuring the leadership teams have the necessary support to ensure increased operations of the team in general when the storm arrives (Bush, 2003). The secretary is also responsible for recommending the president to allow for the authorization of using the federal government's resources to assist the vulnerable parties in the case of storm events in Los Angeles. The secretary is also responsible for ensuring that appropriate information on the developing incidents is well composed and communicated to the public without any misleading details.

Operational Components

United States Customs and Border Protection. The team is also an essential component of the Department of Homeland Security's operation needs which is responsible for moving the officers around to assist with the recovery efforts in the affected regions (Bush, 2003). The recovery efforts are made up of the services that ensure all the sea and airports in the areas affected by the storms and severe weather are staffed fully with the ability to receive various cargo and passengers in the process of returning to the operation. The CBP team is also responsible for expediting the arrival of power recovery teams that are sourced from the neighboring states when necessary (Burrus et al., 2010).