Homeland Security Vs Domestic Intelligence Essay

Prior to the 9/11 attacks, foreign intelligence and domestic intelligence were very easy to distinguish. Generally speaking, foreign intelligence had to do with threats and information outside the United States and domestic intelligence was the information that was collected by law enforcing officers and federal agents such as Customs and Border Protection personnel. Today, there is points where it is not clear whether it is clearly defined as foreign or domestic. As the methods and thought processes of intelligence has changed over the years after 9/11, it has been learned that many times foreign intelligence can have a relevant impact to the threat or potential threat actually inside the United States (Randol, 2009). Should there be a difference or should it all just be considered intelligence. Given the idea of “homeland security intelligence” is relatively new, it is still an area in the government that much work is needed. This is a system that needs the cooperation of everyone at every level to work properly. The gathering of intelligence inside the United States should not be a secret. While it should not be public knowledge in general, there should be ways to research exactly how the information is collected as well as where the permissions originate.

The internet age is in full swing. One is able to find practically anything using the internet including classified information if correct credentials are obtained or possibly hacked. A lot of the information is readily available. There is a couple of items that one can have the expectation of privacy. Some of those items include: emails, instant messages, social media profiles, and voice over IP connections. For systems such as these there needs to be a disclosure that states that the information of that individual can be used to collection and monitoring purposes pertaining to homeland security if deemed