During the past 200 years of shifting strategies and priorities, many conflicting definitions and paradigms have been developed to explain the basic governmental roles of National Security, Homeland Security, and General Welfare. ANSER hopes through this short primer to standardize the use of terms and explain the relationship of key ideas so that all agencies - Federal, state, local and private - can use the same language to communicate their needs and recommendations. ANSER will use the language of authoritative government documents wherever possible, and suggest new terms and terminology where necessary.

Homeland Security and Homeland Defense are terms much used in the last few days, but apparently not well understood. To understand what they include and what they do not, it is useful to begin with the purpose of our nation - similar to the purpose of any nation, but spelled out for us in our Constitution: "To provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and to secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity."

To accomplish these three duties we rely on institutions at four levels: federal, state, local and private.

Homeland Security and the Functions of Government:

The governmental roles these institutions perform may in turn be grouped in to three general functions:

• Homeland Security
• General Welfare
• National Security

Although the three roles overlap somewhat, they may be generally differentiated as follows:

• Homeland Security comprises those actions that protect the common good domestically against attack.
• General Welfare comprises those actions that advance the common good domestically.
  
• National Security comprises those actions that both protect and advance the common good internationally.
  

Homeland Security — What it is:

Note that the oft-used term "Homeland Defense" is actually a sub-set of Homeland Security.

• Homeland Security is defined as the deterrence, prevention, and preemption of, and defense against, aggression targeted at U.S. territory, sovereignty, population, and infrastructure as well as the management of the consequences of such aggression and other domestic emergencies.
• Homeland Defense is a subset of Homeland Security. It is defined as the deterrence, prevention, and preemption of and defense against direct attacks aimed at U.S. territory, population, and infrastructure.
• Civil Support is also a subset of Homeland Security, separate from Homeland Defense. It is defined as the DOD support to civilian authorities for natural and manmade domestic emergencies, civil disturbances, and designated law enforcement efforts.
  

Again, all of our institutions contribute to all of these functions of government. For example:

• First rate colleges and universities contribute to national security by turning out research that contributes to national power;
• The professional military education program promotes the general welfare by returning to civilian life individuals with skills valuable to industry.

Homeland Security - What it is NOT:

BUT - because of this overlap, if we are not careful with our language, everything might end up grouped under national security or homeland security or general welfare. Discussion of strategy and priority would become impossible.

So the central question we will pose in order to locate an issue under a particular role of the government is whether it contributes to national security, homeland security or general welfare directly or indirectly. It is not helpful, for example, to call protection of the environment a "national security" issue, as some have in order to raise its visibility. Protection of the environment contributes directly to the General Welfare, and this is how the issue should be considered. Similarly, national missile defense does impact our ability to protect and advance the common good overseas (National Security), but its most direct contribution is to protecting the common good domestically (Homeland Security). Theater Missile Defense, on the other hand, works just the other way: it does contribute indirectly to the security of the homeland, but its contribution is most directly to protecting and advancing US interests overseas. Theater Missile Defense is rightly part of National Security.

Homeland Security in U.S. History

The balance of priority and resources the nation grants to each of these three roles has changed over time. During our colonial days, the first duty citizens required of their local governments was the performance of Homeland Defense (as a sub-element of Homeland Security), as militias were formed and called out, first against marauding French and Indians, and later against British troops. As soon as the Declaration of Independence turned the colonies into "states," private, local and state institutions began to field military units for the role of Homeland Defense. The first priority for the fledgling American Congress was to establish and support a national force for Homeland Defense.

But as soon as the defeat of the British was secured, attention to Homeland Defense waned. Government institutions at all levels turned immediately to expanding their role in General Welfare, and Homeland Defense was relegated to small militia groups and an even smaller regular Army. The Navy was disassembled entirely. National Security (advancing our interests overseas) was promoted almost entirely by the Department of State.

Within a few years, the balance shifted once again: the Navy and Marines were tasked with promoting National Security by making the sea lanes safe for American commerce (evidence the war against the Barbary Pirates), and the Army was called upon regularly for Civil Support in the opening of the West.

Thus, within a few years of the establishment of the United States as an independent nation, Federal institutions were active in all three roles of government: General Welfare, Homeland Security (both Homeland Defense and Civil Support), and National Security.

Of course, the balance of interest and dedication of resources has continued to shift over time. The direct contribution of Federal institutions to the General Welfare increased greatly after the onset of the Great Depression. Similarly, the importance of National Security was downplayed for many years as a result in confidence in our two ocean barriers and fears of foreign entanglements. Federal participation in National Security expanded greatly during and after World War II. Focus on Homeland Security peaked in the 1950's with an emphasis on Civil Defense, then declined as the Department of Defense and other agencies dedicated their resources almost totally to National Security. Only as the threat of the Cold War declined did the application of resources to Homeland Security come back into vogue - first with the provision of forces to Civil Support in fighting forest fires and in response to Hurricane Andrew.

Homeland Security Today:

As the National Defense Panel took a look forward in 1997, it identified the probability of rising threats directed against US territory, and recommended new emphasis on Homeland Security as a result. Several commissions and panels took similar positions over the next few years, until the terrorist attack of 11 September 2001 brought the need for Homeland Security into sharp relief.

- Randy Larsen is the Director of the ANSER Institute for Homeland Security. Dave McIntyre is the Deputy Director for Research. Comments should be directed to 703-416-3597 or homelandsecurity@anser.org.