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Homeland Security Act of 2002

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Definition

An Act passed by the Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush creating the Department of Homeland Security and reorganizing several other government agencies.

Introduction

The attacks of September 11, 2001, created considerable fear among the US population and pressure for the government to punish those responsible for the attacks, as well as to better secure the homeland. The USA responded with a “war on terrorism” and the largest reorganization of the US government apparatus since the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Department of Defense (DoD) were created in the wake of World War II (Crenshaw and Lafree 2017). President George W. Bush and his staff moved quickly to address the identified weaknesses and vulnerabilities within our counterterrorism structure, while some within the government made pleas for a more judicious approach to such an extensive reorganization (Chang 2014; Crenshaw and Lafree 2017). Nonetheless, the Homeland Security Act of 2002...

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References

  • Brattberg, E. (2014). Coordinating for contingencies: Taking stock of post-9/11 homeland security reforms. In J. J. F. Forest, R. D. Howard, & J. C. Moore (Eds.), Homeland security and terrorism: Readings and interpretations (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

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  • Bush, G. W. (2002). The department of homeland security. Washington, DC: White House.

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  • Chang, N. (2014). The USA Patriot Act: What’s so patriotic about trampling on the bill of rights? In J. J. F. Forest, R. D. Howard, & J. C. Moore (Eds.), Homeland security and terrorism: Readings and interpretations (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

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  • Crenshaw, M., & Lafree, G. (2017). Countering terrorism. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.

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  • Congress (2002). Pub. Law 107-296. The Homeland Security Act of 2002. Washington, DC: Congress.

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  • Congress (2017). H.R. 2825. Department of Homeland Security Authorization Act of 2017. Washington DC: Congress.

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  • Rittgers, D. (2014). Abolish the department of homeland security. In J. J. F. Forest, R. D. Howard, & J. C. Moore (Eds.), Homeland security and terrorism: Readings and interpretations (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

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  • The U.S. Department of Homeland Security. National Strategy for Homeland Security, October 2007. Online at: https://www.dhs.gov/national-strategy-homeland-security-october-2007.

Further Reading

  • Bush, G. W. (2002). The department of homeland security. Washington, DC: White House.

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  • Forest, J. (2018). The terrorism lectures (3rd ed.). Santa Ana: Nortia Press.

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  • Congress. (2017). H.R. 2025. Department of Homeland Security Authorization Act of 2017. Washington, DC: Congress.

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  • Public Law 107-296. (2002). The Homeland Security Act of 2002. Washington, DC: Congress.

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  • The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, History Office. Brief Documentary History of the Department of Homeland Security, 2001–2008. Online at: https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=37027

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Correspondence to James J. F. Forest .

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Duggan, J.M., Forest, J.J.F. (2019). Homeland Security Act of 2002. In: Shapiro, L., Maras, MH. (eds) Encyclopedia of Security and Emergency Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69891-5_128-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69891-5_128-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-69891-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-69891-5

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