HOMELAND SECURITY AND TERRORISM: READINGS AND INTERPRETATIONS
BY RUSSELL HOWARD, JAMES FOREST AND JOANNE MOORE
Published by: McGraw•Hill
Homeland Security and Terrorism: Readings and Interpretations is the third in a series. The first of the series, Terrorism and Counterterrorism: Understanding the New Security Environment: Readings and Interpretations, now in its second printing, offers a comprehensive understanding of the most crucial security problems facing modern society. The second book in the series, Defeating Terrorism: Shaping the New Security Environment, discusses how to fight and win the war against terrorism.
The latest volume is a collection, written by terrorism experts, Homeland security practitioners, government officials, police and fire officials, military officers, educators, business executives, medical personnel and lawyers. The book is divided into five parts.
In Part 1, the authors describe how the threat to the Homeland from terrorists waging warfare is not well understood across the United States. In Part 2, U.S. targets including aviation, transportation, cyberspace, borders and infrastructure are analyzed. Part 3 discusses national, state and local agencies’ abilities to respond to acts of terrorism. Part 4 analyzes civil liberties in a Democratic nation under attack, and Part 5 questions if the lessons learned from natural and man-made disasters can be used to help prepare for future terrorist attacks.
The book provides an overview of the terrorist threat and then discusses in depth current issues concerning Homeland security. The book explains controversies surrounding the federal government’s creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the Patriot Act.
Defending the nation is the primary responsbility of the federal government, and this book presents that more work needs to be done to secure it. Each of the contributors writes from a wealth of experience, providing readers with a good resource on these issues. At the end, the work provides online resources in order to allow readers to learn more about the subjects.