National Security

National security has become a major issue since the attacks of September 11, 2001. How do we as a nation expand our intelligence operations to protect the citizens while still keeping their civil liberties in tact? Americans and its government have taken steps to further secure the nation and its assets. However; not every building in the U.S can be protected, this requires many different agencies working together to secure the borders, the buildings, and the people.

Many people assume that because there have been no attacks that these measures are working, but just as the attacks on 9/11 proved and even the Pearl Harbor attack some sixty years earlier we will never know how protected we are until the protective measures are in action. These attacks have taught us that the different levels of government need to work together in order to be efficient. Whether it is the Central Intelligence Agency or the local police department, we as a nation have enough resources if they are used correctly.

The American public will never know the amount of intelligence and counter-intelligence for that matter that the government conducts behind the scenes. From the view of the citizens and in hind sight it would seem that government intelligence operations should be increased. We have also learned from past events that good intelligence in the hands of the wrong person is the same as no intelligence, pardon the pun. Reports surfaced after the Pearl Harbor attacks and after the World Trade Center attacks that the government knew of pending attacks but didn't increase security measures. That intelligence must then get passed to the local police and to the public if the need arises. I am part of the police community and myself and most colleagues have no idea what a yellow threat level means or orange, and why they change form time to time. It would be nearly impossible to alert every police agency directly from the government but a program where the government alerts an authority and they alert another and so on, down the line.

Another issue facing the nation and government for that matter is how to increase security while still marinating a sense of calm. Increased security while on the outside makes citizens feel secure will also inherently make people feel like things are out of control. It gives a sense of security and uneasiness walking through a metal detector, the mere fact that it is there gives the sense that something could happen at any time. Americans have always paid some price for freedom, it is never cheap. I feel that as long as