Merging the forces that protect America

American security is at risk. For years, the nation has been at the forefront of a war against a cunning enemies who have no boundaries--international terrorists.

However, the two agencies created to advert any threat, the older and more established National Security Council (NSC) and the newer Homeland Security Council (HSC), lack the proper coordination and communication needed to protect the American people. In an effort to stem this lack of communication, President Obama authorized a 60 day research group to discover the viability of merging these two agencies.

“The theory, the concepts, and the practice of national security are very well developed. Those dogmas and doctrines have a robustness that we do not yet have in Homeland Security,” said Philp J. Palin, the Senior Fellow at the National Institute for Strategic Preparedness. Palin said that integrating these two groups too soon would cause the “big brother” NSC to overshadow and control the smaller HSC.

“Its been an unrealized vision,” said Bruce Hoffman, Professor at the Center for Peace and Security Studies at Georgetown University in regards to the HSC living up to its original mantra, which was to assess the risks the American people faced from a local level and brief the President on these threats.

Townshed expressed similar concerns about the lack of funds and experts in the HSC when she said “I need more [funds] and I need real particular expertise.” Without these two pivotal needs she feels that the HSC will always pale in comparison to the larger and better funded NSC.

“We remain a nation at war,” said Frances Fargos Townshed, Former Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Advisor, who elucidated the threat America faces every hour of every day.