Homeland Security

An accessible and comprehensive history of terrorism from ancient times to the present

When Edward Snowden hit the send button on a laptop in Hong Kong in June 2013, just shy of his 30th birthday, he became the poster boy for an acutely American conundrum: the tension between the government's constitutional commitment to the privacy of individuals and its responsibility for the safety of the nation. The author reviews 200 years of surveillance in the U.S., the leading actors in the NSA debate since Snowden's leaks, and the challenges that lie ahead--namely, finding the right balance between national security and individual privacy.

The authors provide a critical look at how we have dealt with the terror threat over the years. They make clear why it is so difficult to create policy to counter terrorism. The foes are multiple and often amorphous, the study of the field dogged by disagreement on basic definitional and methodological issues, and the creation of policy hobbled by an exacting standard: the counterterrorist must succeed all the time, the terrorist only once. As the book shows, there are no simple solutions to this threat.

The definitive account of the rise of far-right terrorism in the United States-and how to counter it. Leading experts Bruce Hoffman and Jacob Ware trace the historical trajectory and assess the present-day dangers of this violent extremist movement.

This collection of essays represents the most recent criminological research relating to the origins and evolution of, along with responses to, terrorism, from a criminological perspective. It offers an authoritative overview of the latest criminological research into the causes of and responses to terrorism in today's world, and covers broad themes that include terrorism's origins, theories, methodologies, types, relationship to other forms of crime, terrorism and the criminal justice system, ways to counter terrorism, and more.

This text provides students and practitioners alike with the latest developments on the make-up, organization, and strategic mission of the Department of Homeland Security. Homeland security involves a complex network of government agencies and private organizations collaborating to ensure the safety and security of the United States, its domestic and global interests, and its citizens. As such, this book offers valuable insights into the roles of multi-jurisdictional agencies and various stakeholders at all levels of government including law enforcement, the military, the intelligence community, emergency managers, and the private sector. Many of the books currently available offer a skewed or unbalanced examination of DHS, emphasizing certain elements over others. This is the first book to provide objective and equal treatment of each of the core components that encompass DHS's mission including: border security, immigration and naturalization, emergency management, transportation security, critical infrastructure protection, information security, public health, and intelligence and counterterrorism efforts.

Ongoing cyberattacks, hacks, data breaches, and privacy concerns demonstrate vividly the inadequacy of existing methods of cybersecurity and the need to develop new and better ones. This book brings together experts from across MIT to explore recent advances in cybersecurity from management, technical, and sociological perspectives.

This volume offers a sweeping overview of the shifting tensions and public opinions fueled by Americans' expectations of privacy vs. their collective desire for national security. Diving into how far the government has gone and "should" go in the name of national security, this volume analyses primary and secondary source documents such as Supreme Court decisions, articles from respected periodicals, and legislation. Coverage includes domestic spying, Apple's refusal to help with "back door" access of the iPhone, and the differences between President Obama's and President Trump's surveillance states.

Written by top disaster scholars and practitioners, the book defines what constitutes a catastrophic event, outlining both the factors that can lead to catastrophes and the unique logistical, planning, and response challenges posed by them. Distinct from general disasters, these events are termed "catastrophic" due to the regional impact, impacts to logistics and infrastructure, the devastating effects on large-scale populations, and the ripple effects on regional and global economies. This book examines why catastrophes must be approached differently. If governments, public administrators, and emergency management professionals are to succeed in protecting our populations, there must be consensus, decisiveness, and leadership in both the coordination and response.

In this book, the author closely examines the factors that motivate individuals to participate in terrorism, drawing inferences from terrorists' own backgrounds and the economic, social, religious, and political environments in the societies from which they come. He describes which countries are the most likely breeding grounds for terrorists, and which ones are most likely to be their targets. Krueger addresses the economic and psychological consequences of terrorism and puts the threat squarely into perspective, revealing how our nation's sizable economy is diverse and resilient enough to withstand the comparatively limited effects of most terrorist strikes. He also calls on the media to be more responsible in reporting on terrorism.

This book examines how, where and why women have become visible in the discourses and practices related to counterterrorism through the lens of US efforts since 2001. Drawing on extensive primary source interviews and documents, A Woman's Place traces the evolution of women's place in U.S. counterterrorism efforts through the administrations of Presidents Bush, Obama, and Trump, examining key agencies like the U.S. Department of Defense, the Department of State, and USAID.