Following the issuance of the National Preparedness Guidelines in 2009 by the Department of Homeland Security, it remains unknown whether homeland security programs have been consistently implemented in the nation's rural areas. Research findings have been inconsistent and inconclusive on the degree of implementation. Two problems may result from inadequate implementation of these programs: weakened national security from the failure to protect critical infrastructure in remote areas and a threat to public safety in rural towns. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore and describe the reasons for possible noncompliance through purposeful interviews with 10 law enforcement officials and emergency managers in selected Midwestern rural towns. The study's theoretical foundation was based on Putnam's theory of social capital, which holds that community cohesion develops in direct relation to the adaptation of social networks that promote mutual cooperation during times of need. The research centered on the question of how rural emergency managers and law enforcement officials justified noncompliance with the National Preparedness Guidelines of 2009. The interviews and materials were transcribed and analyzed with qualitative analytic software using open, axial, and selective coding to identify themes and patterns. The study's key findings disconfirmed conclusions reported in previous studies and confirmed compliance with the Guidelines in the studied rural towns. Implications for positive social change include informing policymakers, emergency managers, law enforcement officials, and researchers. Application of social capital principles in all the nation's remote areas may enhance national security and improve rural public safety.

From 2000 to 2013, Israel had the second highest number of deaths from suicide attacks and was on the list of countries that may experience increases in terrorism due to ongoing conflicts. Suicide bombings present highly complex situations for counterterrorism and counterinsurgency professionals. Using Freeman, Tucker, and Merton's framework of 9 preattack phases as the primary theoretical constuct, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore specific patterns that consistently emerged in the adversary planning process for 6 successful or failed suicide bombing cases in Israel. Secondary, archival data were acquired through a data use agreement with a private security organization in Israel and a maximum variation sampling procedure was used to identify cases. These data were subjected to Straus and Corbin's open and axial coding procedures. Coded data were analyzed using Merriam's cross case analysis procedure. Findings indicated that although the nine preattack phases emerged in both the successful and unsuccessful attacks, they were more consistently present in the successful bombing cases. For the successful attacks, general planning, financing, and operational preparation received the most occurrences. The implications for positive social change are directed at counterterrorist decision makers and operators as focusing on the early planning phases of a terrorist attack will help them to better identify essential opportunities to prevent suicide attacks from occurring.

Little is known about how effectively federal agencies share terrorism intelligence with state and local governments through fusion centers. As a result, there is a risk that local governments do not receive critical intelligence that would allow them to collaboratively prevent catastrophic terrorist attacks. Using Dawes' interagency information sharing model, the purpose of this exploratory case study was to evaluate how effectively federal agencies share terrorism intelligence with fusion centers. Data were collected through interviews with 25 senior leaders, federal agents deployed to fusion centers, and intelligence analysts in 5 fusion centers on the East Coast. These data were inductively coded and then subjected to a thematic analysis procedure. Findings indicated that, among these leaders, information sharing was hindered by both technology and inter-organizational relationships between the fusion centers and federal agencies. Participants also noted that obstacles to information sharing regarding classified data has not been sufficiently mitigated. Dawes' interagency information-sharing theory was found to be explanatory regarding intelligence sharing activities. Implications for positive social change include recommendations to the Department of Homeland Security to utilize Dawes' work on information sharing in order to alleviate the tension between federal and local agencies and remove obstacles, particularly related to classified intelligence related to counterterrorism. Doing so can be useful in developing policy recommendations to improve the dynamics between federal and local agencies, thereby allowing critical information to be shared with state and local governments in a proactive manner that may better protect communities.

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<p>In the post-9/11 period, the United States can be seen to have securitized its approach to homeland security policy. Canada did not follow suit. Instead, the Canadian state sought to respond to American securitization initiatives in order to protect its own state interests. An in-depth examination of securitization theory demonstrates that this theoretical construct has been re-interpreted by scholars and adapted to various research agendas. This dissertation differentiates amongst three variants of securitization theory: philosophical, sociological, and post-structural. Common to these competing variants of securitization theory was the finding that the role of the audience had remained vague, hindering the use of this theoretical model for examining the policy creation process. Focusing on the philosophical variant of securitization theory, as originally articulated by the Copenhagen School, this dissertation re-evaluates the role of the audience while examining the ways in which the American approach to homeland security was securitized in the new security environment that emerged following 9/11, as well as Canada’s response to this securitization.</p> <p>This project divides the audience into two separate groups, made up of three components. The elite audience, which is comprised of members of the state policy elite, and the media first determine whether or not an issue poses an existential threat to the security of the state. The populist audience - the state’s public - then determines for itself whether or not it accepts the existential nature of the threat. This division of the audience into two separate groups allows for a clearer understanding of whether or not a given issue has been successfully securitized.</p> <p>In the post-9/11 period, the American audience groups willingly accepted that the threat of terrorism posed an existential threat to the state. The Canadian audience groups, prompted by their own authorized speakers of security, did not recognize terrorism as posing an existential threat to the Canadian states. Ultimately, an examination of the audience groups in these two states demonstrates the utility of the philosophical variant of securitization theory for evaluating states’ responses to security threats.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Local emergency planning committees (LEPCs) were designed to develop emergency response plans and provide information through community right-to-know programs. A literature review identified operational effectiveness, collaboration, risk communication, information technology (IT), and homeland security as important issues for LEPCs. However, a lack of research on the interaction of these fields raises several questions that were addressed in this study: 1. How is the operational effectiveness of LEPCs related to their organizational characteristics? 2. To what extent does collaboration exist between LEPCs and other groups? 3. What types of risk communication strategies are used by LEPCs? How are these initiatives mediated through technology? 4. To what degree and to what purposes are LEPCs utilizing information technologies? 5. How will homeland security initiatives influence emergency planning and community right-to-know programs? How will potential opportunities and constraints posed by homeland security affect the future role of LEPCs? The sample for this study was randomly selected from LEPCs in US EPA's Region III, including the states of Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. Phase one involved mailing out 156 surveys; 66 were returned for a response rate of 42%. Phase two involved case studies of LEPCs in Greenbrier County, WV; Tazewell County, VA; and Elk County, PA. Findings indicate that LEPC activity level is lower than previously reported. This research shows that IT is considered important, but its use is limited. Respondents reported using computers for word processing and, on a limited basis, for planning. The level of IT use for data management, emergency response activities, and risk communication was unexpectedly low. The research did not find a significant relationship between LEPC characteristics and the level of IT use. Barriers to IT use and operational status related to lack of funding and training. Data from surveys, interviews, and physical evidence were used to triangulate these findings. This research is significant in its identification of the current operation of LEPCs. It provides an assessment of collaborative initiatives being used within LEPCs and highlights methods employed to develop and implement risk communication programs. These findings can be used to evaluate the potential role of LEPCs in homeland security initiatives, which will likely focus on emergency planning with a decreased emphasis on risk communication. / Ph. D.

This dissertation examines organizational level outcomes within a whole network--the national network of fusion centers. Fusion centers are state and local organizations that fuse threat-related intelligence and information by working with federal, state, and local law enforcement as well as other security partners in the public and private sectors. This research will ask why outcomes at the fusion center level vary within the network by exploring unique configurations of conditions at multiple levels of analysis. The results of the research will present evidence that suggests whole network effectiveness cannot be fully comprehended without first examining sub-network level impacts, such as the training or experience of analysts, organizational capacities, and the roles of relationships between network actors. This line of inquiry has ramifications for inter-organizational network theory building because it will demonstrate the individual importance of these factors, and how they interact with other factors at multiple levels within a network to influence outcomes. For practitioners in the domestic intelligence community this research will provide important insights and present paths taken by organizations in a national network to achieve a desired or undesired outcome. / Ph. D.

Northern Iraq's Christians are a second-order minority. That is, they are a minority within a minority. They occupy a tenuous position between the Arab-dominated central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government. All Christians in northern Iraq desire to remain in their historic homelands. Yet efforts to advance a common political goal have been rare. Differences within the Iraqi Christian community center on three interrelated points: 1) the adoption and advancement of the Assyrian ethno-nationalist identity; 2) the struggle for leadership of the community between secular parties and church officials; and 3) the securing of group rights through either Baghdad or Erbil, which is typified by the debate over a province for minorities in the Nineveh Plain. The Islamic State's invasion in June 2014 made this dynamic even more complex. This dissertation explores how a second-order minority mobilized to protect its homelands during state breakdown and state recalibration. It examines how an Iraqi Christian political party, the Assyrian Democratic Movement (ADM), responded to the rise and spread of the Islamic State. More specifically, it analyzes the ADM's creation of a self-defense force, the Nineveh Plains Protection Units (NPU), and how the party positioned itself for the post-conflict state. Data generated through ethnographic fieldwork, combined with existing primary and secondary sources, reveals a detailed process whereby security threats shaped mobilization. Notions of historic homelands and distrust of both the central government and KRG were the central factors shaping this outcome. The ADM created the NPU to liberate occupied lands. More importantly, the NPU was created to ensure Christians retained a place in their historic homelands after the Islamic State was evicted. The use of the name "Nineveh Plains Protection Units" held strategic importance. The binding principle of the NPU was an indigenous-based attachment to the Nineveh Plain, including the right to defend it, and Christianity in Iraq. Both elements captured the common threads among all Iraqi Christians and the claim they make on the state. The ADM, therefore, was particularly attuned to Iraq's pre-Islamic ancient Mesopotamian heritage. This ironically echoed earlier efforts by the Ba'ath regime to instill a Mesopotamian identity among citizens by glorifying a common Assyrian and Babylonian heritage all could presumably share. Second-order minority status meant the ADM had to eventually align with either Baghdad or Erbil. The ADM chose Baghdad, effectively balancing against ISIS and the KRG in the Nineveh Plain. Baghdad proved a willing partner for a time. The ADM, however, was left alone to navigate the Nineveh Plain's position in the September 2017 Kurdistan referendum on independence. / PHD / This dissertation examines the Assyrian Democratic Movement’s response to the Islamic State. It analyzes the ADM’s creation of a self-defense force, the Nineveh Plains Protection Units, and how the party positioned itself for the post-conflict state. Data generated through ethnographic fieldwork conducted in northern Iraq combined with existing primary and secondary sources reveals a detailed process whereby security threats shaped mobilization. Homeland claims and distrust of both the central government and KRG were the central factors driving this process. Second-order minority status meant the ADM had no choice but to pick sides between Baghdad and Erbil. The party eventually aligned with Baghdad. However, it was left alone to navigate Nineveh Plain’s position within the Kurdistan independence referendum.