Academic Contributions to Homeland Security

As part of the shift in national security after 9/11, the government sought to include academia in the pursuit of meeting security goals. Steward and Vocino assert that “homeland security courses and programs sprang up quickly to meet demand” (2013, p. 14). However, the government set up the Centers for Excellence network under the auspices of the Homeland Security Act of 2002. The mandate for establishing the network is:

The Secretary, acting through the Under Secretary for Science and Technology, shall establish … a university-based center or centers for homeland security. The purpose of this center or centers shall be to establish a coordinated, university-based system to enhance the nation’s homeland security (Homeland Security, n.d (a)., para. 18).

Two examples of such Centers of Excellence are the National Center for Border Security and Immigration (NCBSI) and the The Center for Behavioral and Social Aspects of Terrorism and Counterterrorism (START). What is it that these centers do?

The NCBSI is a collaboration between the University of Arizona and the University of Texas at El Paso. It's mission is to “to develop technologies, tools and advanced methods that
balance immigration and trade with effective border security” (Homeland Security, n.d (b)., para.1).

START is located at the University of Maryland. It's mission is to “to advance science-based knowledge about the human causes and consequences of terrorism and serve as a leading resource for homeland security policymakers and practitioners” (START, 2013, para. 1).

As an example of the work these Centers of Excellence do, we can look at a START study,”Validation of the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) Initiative: Identifying Suspicious Activities from the Extremist Crime Database and the American Terrorism Study”. The purpose of the study was to validate the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) Initiative (NSI), which itself has a purpose of “identifying and reporting terrorism-related suspicious activity in jurisdictions across the country” (START, 2014, p.1). The study had four findings
• Pre-incident activities occurring prior to acts of terrorism crimes do often align with existing SAR indicators.
• SAR indicators with the highest prevalence were weapons discovery, materials acquisition/storage, expressed or implied threats, and observation/surveillance.
• Many of the indicators were observable prior to terrorist attacks, and some indicators were observed by the public.
• Although several non-SAR activities emerged, none of these patterns rose to the level of necessitating a new type of SAR indicator (START, 2014, p.1)

The objective of the study was to validate the SAR process, which the NSI contends is critical to sharing information regarding this activity with a potential nexus to terror acts (NSI, 2015, para. 2). The objective was attained through research into two databases, Extremist Crime
Database (ECDB) and the American Terrorism Study (ATS). Both databases have collected data on pre-incident activities associated with terrorist acts, to which the study compares to the 16 SAR categories (START, 2015, pp. 1-3). The findings have been listed in bullet list above. The study made no recommendations, as it was a validation process, however, the study did note that some SAR indicators are not likely to be noticed by law enforcement as they are of a non-criminal nature, while other indicators were also less likely to be noticed due to their early part in the terror preparation process (START, 2015, p. 14).

Although the study did not examine SAR indicators in the context of foreign terrorism, the insight gained through the validation of the process can be extrapolated and tested against such acts, as well as possible transnational acts. Thus future research could be delved into regarding cartel violence as well as traditionally understood forms of international terror.

Image Source -Wikimedia Commons

References

Homeland Security (n.d)(a). Welcome to the Centers of Excellence. Retrieved May 19, 2015 from http://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/centers-excellence

Homeland Security (n.d)(b).The National Center for Border Security and Immigration (NCBSI). Retrieved May 19, 2015 from http://www.hsuniversityprograms.org/default/assets/File/NCBSI%20Fact%20Sheet- Jan2014-FINAL.pdf

Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) Initiative. (2015). About the NSI. Retrieved May 19, 2015 from http://nsi.ncirc.gov/about_nsi.aspx

START. (2013). Mission and vision. Retrieved May 19, 2015 from
http://www.start.umd.edu/about/mission-and-vision

START. (2014). START research brief:Validation of the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) Initiative: Identifying suspicious activities from the Extremist Crime Database and the American Terrorism Study. Retrieved May19, 2015 from
http://www.start.umd.edu/pubs/STARTResearchBrief_NationalSARInitiative_March2015
.pdf

START. (2015). Validation of the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) Initiative:
Identifying Suspicious Activities from the Extremist Crime Database (ECDB) and the American Terrorism Study (ATS). May 19, 2015 from https://www.start.umd.edu/pubs/ START_ValidationofNationwideSARInitiative_Feb2015.pdf

Stewart, K. B., & Vocino, J. (2013). Homeland security in higher education: The state of affairs. Journal of Public Affairs Education, 13–29. Retrieved May 19, 2015 from http://www.jstor.org/stable/23608932