Immigrations and Customs Enforcement works with FBI & other agencies to thwart terrorist incidents, and the funding of terror networks, in a cooperative information-sharing effort that improves law-enforcement capabilities nationwide.
A major reshuffling of U.S. First Army and U.S. Fifth Army roles and responsibilities will result in more military muscle being made available for homeland security and the increasingly important DSCA (Defense Support of Civilian Authorities) mission.
Most U.S. service personnel wounded, injured, or hospitalized for other reasons in Iraq are quickly provided advanced medical treatment. The numerous lessons learned from this experience might usefully be applied to homeland-defense planning.
There is no all-purpose chemical/biological/radiological detection device now on the market, but there are several excellent single- or dual-purpose devices, and more are in the pipeline.
The U.S. Coast Guard and DHS's Customs and Border Patrol directorate expand their activities in WestPac and the Far East, enhancing homeland preparedness while building closer relationships with U.S. trading partners.
The Civil Air Patrol, which serves as a valuable and low-cost auxiliary to the U.S. Air Force, continues to change with the times to carry out the new missions assigned to it by its parent service.
The Coast Guard's versatile & user-friendly Homeport website, designed to link the service's own offices and agencies, has evolved into a valuable research & operational tool open to the public -but retains a secure link only to those with a need to know.
One of Benjamin Franklin's first "inventions," resurrected more than two centuries after his (and her?) death, demonstrates that common sense, combined with a wee bit of drollery, may be as useful in the Age of Terrorism as in the Colonial Era.
From the start of World War II to the present day the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary has served as a low-cost multi-mission adjunct to the Coast Guard's active-duty and reserve components--and is now working in the front lines of homeland security as well.
Establishing a workable communications network is the first step. But the real key to effective cooperation between units, and between decision makers, at the state, federal, and local levels is training--on a continuing basis.
