Political Science

Security Policy
A national security policy of United States for a long period of time has been to conduct preemptive strikes on its enemies. Preemptive terror strikes are attacks on the enemies conducted to ward off any potential threat arising from enemy states of agents. This policy of the United States has been introduced largely since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the world trade center and reason put forward by the US government for such behavior is that it wants to protect its people against such future incidents.

The US has already implemented this policy and has been conducting pre-emptive strikes on countries it feels are planning terrorist activities against US. The United States further sees its duty to safeguard the interest of other states against terrorism by following the enemies to the roots and destroying them.

The Bush Doctrine, was the name given to this foreign policy during the time of Bushs administration when Bush announced attacks on Al-Qaeda and Taliban members in Afghanistan and against Saddam Hussein in Iraq (Kolodziej, 2006). The controversial aspect of this policy is that US can try to eliminate any potential enemy even in the threat from them is not immediate. Furthermore, planning done by enemies is not considered enough proof to punish them since in legal system, a punishment is given only when a crime has been committed or a law has been broken. However, now amid controversy this policy is a part of US national security policy.

Department of Homeland Security
The Department of Homeland Security is basically a cabinet department of the government of United States whose main purpose is to guard the territories of the country from any attacks from the side of terrorists and also to look out and react to natural disasters. The Department of Homeland Security was created on November 25, 2002 which resulted in the reorganization of the government of the United States along with some federal agencies.

Talking about the mission of The Department of Homeland Security, it focuses on to lead as a department or organization that has to protect and secure the country from any major mishaps, and to preserve the freedom of the people (dhs.gov, 2010). The rationale behind its creation is to shelter the country against the terrorists or the countries who look forward to indulge in and create chaos in the ways of life of the people of United States. Moreover, contingency plans and actions are also taken by this department in order to counter the hazards and disasters that might come naturally. The department is also responsible for strengthening the internal components of itself to make the most of its functions and performance. It communicates the activities that seem to be integrated with other components that usually have different goals and functions. The department gets unified to guard the American people and country as a whole. Finally, The Department of Homeland Security also has the responsibilities in its agenda to strengthen or help grow the economy and preserving the rights, freedoms, and liberties of the people  whether they are minorities or majorities.