Homeland Security Organization and Administration Case Study

Homeland Security Organization and Administration - Case Study Example The attacks provided the realization of the need to integrate and unify efforts towards defending the country from security threats and identify all the lapses in protecting the nation against terrorist attacks. As such, the DHS was formed with the following purpose, to wit: â€Å"by largely transforming and realigning the current confusing patchwork of government activities into a single department whose primary mission is to protect our homeland. The creation of a Department of Homeland Security is one more key step in the President’s national strategy for homeland security† (Department of Homeland Security, 2002, p. 1). The creation of the DHS through the Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS) was therefore instituted with the aim of enhancing and duly communicating awareness to impending threats through a system of color codes, according to potential risks and levels of terrorist attacks – from yellow, orange to red (DHS, n.d.). Likewise, on April 20, 2011, it was announced that this system was replaced by the â€Å"National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS)—a robust terrorism advisory system that provides timely information to the public about credible terrorist threats and replaces the former color-coded alert system† (DHS, n.d., p. 1). It was likewise emphasized that â€Å"the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were far more elaborate, precise, and destructive than any of these earlier assaults. But by September 2001, the executive branch of the U.S. government, the Congress, the news media, and the American public had received a clear warning that Islamist terrorists meant to kill Americans in high numbers† (National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, 2004, par. 16). The seemingly isolated terrorist incidents should have been closely evaluated in terms of potential links and relatedness to future terrorist  plots.The Oklahoma City attack and the 1993 World Trade Center bombings reported far lesser casualties; as compared to those noted with the 9/11 attacks.