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Homeland Security: Concepts, Definitions, and Evolution

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Handbook of Security Science
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Abstract

This chapter describes the efforts to define “homeland security” from the 1950s to the present day. Definitions embedded in the missions, vision statements, and goals of homeland security institutions are examined using key government documents, reports, and directives. The impact of the history of civil defense and emergency management in the United States on current homeland security concepts is analyzed. Finally, the challenges of integrating national security, public safety, and homeland security into a single paradigm are discussed. What emerges is a homeland security concept that draws on previously existing institutions, bureaucracies, and policies, but that also evolves and adapts – not always successfully – to rapidly and constantly changing threats.

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Correspondence to Stephanie Lipson Mizrahi .

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Mizrahi, S.L. (2022). Homeland Security: Concepts, Definitions, and Evolution. In: Masys, A.J. (eds) Handbook of Security Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91875-4_46

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