CRJ 554 Homeland Security Course Summary

This paper summarizes the information presented in this week’s CRJ 554 Homeland Security course. The summary includes the following articles: 7 signs of Terrorism (MSDHS), Policing Terrorism: An Executive’s Guide (Newman & Clark, 2007), Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment Guide (DHS), and National Response Framework (DHS). The summary correlates to the risk first responders encounter when countering and responding to an international even on U.S. soil. In order to tactically respond to a terrorist event, first responders must understand terrorism and its signs. They must also understand the threat and be able to collect intelligent to be able to have a calculated response to mitigate risk.

The Risks for First Responders

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has identified 7 sevens of terrorism; Surveillance, Elicitation, Tests of security, Acquiring supplies, Suspicious persons out of place, Dry run/Trial Run, and Deploying assets. The 7 signs can be looked at as steps to destruction. The first step is the subject will conduct surveillance of the target and the area around the target. Next, they will elicit information from any one inside the target or surrounding areas. Following elicitation, is Tests of Security. They will now attempt breaches in security and calculate the response to the breach. Once they have confirmed the target, gathered information and tested security, they will acquire supplies to necessary to cause as much damage as possible to the intended target. At this point in the operation, they are now looking more suspicious as they seem out of place. They will now perform a dry run/trial run to fine tune their plan. Finally, they will deploy their assets and attempt to carry out their terrorist attack. At any step in this process identified by DHS, any one person could have alerted authorities to the strange behavior noticed along the