The future of law enforcement and homeland security is always changing to adapt and adjust to the nature of the threat. When we review the threats to the United States from the past 200 years it is clear to see that one thing remains certain that there will always be a threat to national security. This threat affects the top down from the federal level all the way to the local government level which ultimately affects its communities and citizens alike. In order to combat such a threat the United States must maintain awareness of its enemies and the nature of the treat. This tends to include the motive, capabilities, and resources involved on both sides. The idea of combating terrorism and supporting the national security efforts has become a joint task as it requires much intelligence to be passed form on agency to another to paint the full picture (Caldwell, 2008). That hasn’t always been the case but moving into the future one can only imagine that that is the only thing that will remain the same since its implementation or reconfiguration after the 9/11 attacks in New York City and the Pentagon. Since 9/11 law enforcement have used criminal intelligence to fuel its operation and gain a focus on combating terrorism with much help from its communities and legislations alike. A number of departments have utilized criminal intelligence as data to combat not just terrorism but organized crime and white collar crime within their communities (Davis, et al., 2010). Ideally much of the information is done and gathered using electronically means. Thanks to the now Freedom Act which grants additional powers to law enforcement and government agencies to conduct surveillance operations the future of law enforcement has changed drastically into being proactive with combating terrorism and various other threats. This means that data passed though the World Wide Web serves as data to be used by various agencies to include the FBI and NSA in order to capture, disrupt, and mitigate the terrorist threats that are plotting to do people harm (Stupak, 2016).

The utilization of additional tools, methods, and practices have gotten a positive response as research have proven that an evolution of the Terrorism Early Warning Groups (TEWG) have been a fusion center model for criminal intelligence in response to national security and information gathering. The idea is that all hazards approach to intelligence collection, information sharing, and analysis of criminal and terrorism activity (Davis, et al., 2010). The future of law enforcement and security has been painted by its past however the road ahead is every changing with only one thing that remains constant and that’s the idea that there will always be a threat to national security and the American way of life. However, the intelligence gathering, methods used, economics involved, and supporting legislations to combat terrorism threats and supporting law enforcement efforts continue to change and adapt to new and additional threats around the world. 9/11 have opened the eyes of many Americans and European nations that the treat is very real and can strike at any moment however being vigilant and proactive at mitigating the threat is the proper response needed to actively stay on top of the ever growing threat to national security.

References

Caldwell, I. (2008). Combating Terrorism. Forensic Examiner, 2-4.

Davis, L. M., Pollard, M., Ward, K., Wilson, J. M., Varda, D. M., Hansell, L., & Steinberg, P. (2010). Long-Term Effects of Law Enforcement’s Post-9/11 Focus on Counterterrorism and Homeland Security. National Institute of Justice, 1-121.

Stupak, J. (2016). The Internet Tax Freedom Act: IN BRIEF. Current Politics and Economics of the United States, 19-32.