Homework Responses Wk 8 & 4
Please prepare a response to each of the attached documents for total of 4 responses. The responses need to be at least 150 words each. The responses should be as if you are talking directly to the person.
Due in 24 hrs.
In the 2016, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency which is commonly known as “Frontex” was established. This was due to a call from European Union leaders to secure the regions external borders. The main focus of Frontex is to more effectively manage immigration, boost the EUs national security, and protect the free movement of its citizens (ECCEU,2021). European Border and Coast Guard Agency conducts joint operations and deployments into its neighboring countries territories. These operations and deployments are able to happen due to status agreements between the neighboring countries and the EU. This cooperation is vital to the success of Frontex and is very similar to the agreements in place between the U.S.-Mexico border and U.S.-Canadian border. One of the most challenging aspects of these international border agreements for the EU is the fact that they have numerous bordering nations, unlike the U.S., which only has Mexico and Canada. The EU utilizes its own system to protect their internal security and stop criminals or terrorist, this system is called the Schengen information system (SIS) and is a way to track wanted or missing people and objects (ECCEU,2021). This system is similar to what the U.S. uses to screen individuals entering the country, known as the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE) or the Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB) (McHugh,2021). Both these systems are in essence terrorist watch lists used to identify potential terrorist before they enter the country.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Europe faced a large geographic and political shift. This shift in turn had a large effect on their borders. The dismantling of the USSR resulted in the creation of 15 new European nation states. New bordered lines needed to be drawn for these nations, and due to some of their proximity to each other the Schengen Agreement of 1985 was implement to allow free passage between the nations and promote economical growth (Bradley, 2012). This agreement was expanded over time with the Amsterdam Treaty of 1997 to where now there are 25 states that are basically borderless (Bradley,2012).
References:
European Unity in the Post Cold War Era. (2021). Retrieved 24 February 2021, from
McHugh, P. (2021). Have Terrorists Crossed Our Border?. Retrieved 24 February 2021, from
https://cis.org/Report/Have-Terrorists-Crossed-Our-Border
Bradley, B. (2012). Strengthening the EU’s external borders. Retrieved 24 February 2021, from
https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/strengthening-external-borders/
Discuss the similarities and/or differences between the external borders of European Union (EU), the U.S. – Mexico border and the U.S.-Canadian border?
There are many similarities and differences between the external borders of European Union (EU), the U.S. – Mexico border and the U.S.-Canadian border. One similarity is that all three borders allow for immigrants to come through the border, however, the major difference is which immigrants are allowed to come in. The major difference between the EU and U.S. borders is that the EU borders allow all immigrants to come through the borders, with illegal immigration being almost nonexistent. U.S. borders aim to keep out illegal immigrants, keeping the border closed, and allowing only legal immigration (APUS Staff, 2021). Another similarity is that both the EU and U.S. have implemented smart borders to help eradicate terrorism before harm can be done to their respective national securities (Baird, 2016). One way that smart borders have been implemented at both borders is through the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.
Explain how the borders within the EU have changed since the “Cold War”?
The European Union has seen much change to its borders since the Cold War. After the end of World War II Europe was divided between communist and non-communist controlled territory. Following the Cold War with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the former communist countries became independent. Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania were added to the map of Europe and the former Soviet republics became independent states once again (ArcGIS, 2021). Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, and Macedonia were also added to the map of Europe.
References:
American Public University System Staff. (2021). Week 8: Borders of New Europe and U.S.-Mexico Border. https://myclassroom.apus.edu/d2l/home/25704
ArcGID. (2021). The Changing Borders of Europe. https://www.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=f5ac143810cb4d3ab8b9350f2071234d
Baird, T. (2016). Surveillance design communities in Europe: A network analysis. Surveillance & Society, 14(1), 34-58.
Operational Security (OPSEC) is the process of denying the enemy information pertinent to the organization or security detail’s planning processes and operations (APUS, 2020). In short, making the collection of open-source information more difficult to obtain through analytical thinking and concerted effort to reduce leakage. “The goal then is to take a hard and thorough look to determine the unit’s vulnerabilities” and determine what information would be valuable to the enemy and take appropriate measures to safeguard it (McGovern, 2011). These measures should be more systematic and less specific. Information such as travel patterns, schedules, available assets, security vulnerabilities, etc. will always be of value to adversaries, so policies like not discussing operations in public spaces or shredding old itineraries and operation orders should be in place to make the collection of this information more difficult.
In general, I believe security details are most likely to fail to safeguard sensitive information through routine communications with outside partners. For example, in 1984 the US Department of State created the Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) (Heard, 2014). At high-threat posts around the world, US Embassy Regional Security Officers invite local security companies, partner forces, and other concerned parties operating in the area (both private and public) to join chat groups and attend regular meetings to share regional security information and disseminate alerts and incident notifications. It has been my experience that these groups tend to share more information to the State Department than they are given, precisely due to concerns over operational security. The issue with groups like these is that open-source information sharing forums work very well at passing information quickly and are very poor at restricting who has access to that information. To use an example from the lesson, coordinating with other security details during advance operations is critical to deconfliction at drop zones, staging vehicles for departure, and avoiding fratricide during attacks on principle. However, my team may be tight lipped about specific capabilities of our detail but the instant I share this information with another detail, say from the other embassies, this information should now be considered public knowledge as they will be assuredly less concerned with safeguarding this information as you are. It is definitely a balancing act and one that evolves and grows with relationships.
References
APUS. (2020). W4: Operations. SCMT396. Retrieved from https://myclassroom.apus.edu/d2l/home/27059
Heard, B. J. (2014). Kidnapping and abduction: Minimizing the threat and lessons in survival. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
McGovern, G. P. (2011). Protective operations: A handbook for law enforcement and security. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
Operations Security (OPSEC) is the process by which we protect critical information whether it is classified or unclassified that can be used against us. It focuses on preventing our adversaries’ access to information and actions that may compromise an operation. OPSEC challenges us to look at ourselves through the eyes of an adversary and deny the adversary the ability to act. In the world and battle space that security officials have to always be aware of is online while on internet services , via social media , gps , and online shopping services like amazon . We freely give our information to multiple sources and while being able to be vetted by the companies are not 100% full proof. Also I believe a secondary failure of us as a society and individual in the development of OPSEC is situational awareness. This generally is just understanding what goes on around you and being able to interpret it and react. While there are many examples of loss of situational awareness which in turn in some studies that have been made could also labeled as human error. I believe that in 5odays world being on ones phone or listening to music earbuds or earphones while walking in public areas is a a major distraction in the hussle and hussle of everyday activity. Again with your eyes and ears focusing on other task it decreases your 360 degree awareness of the world around leaving room for threatening events to happen to you like assaults,muggings, rape and other criminal activities. As a security detail i believe that the two mindsets listed above are where security details have the most room for error due to either of the operating factors being either misread or underdeveloped within the the security personal. This lack of underdevelopment , training and or complacency may end up with the security officer injured or principal injured.
Operations security. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2021, from
https://www.cdse.edu/catalog/operations-security.html