Individual Project: Analysis of US-Canada Border Security Issues

This individual project examines the increasing security issues along the US-Canada border, as highlighted in the DHS Northern Border Threat Analysis Report. The report details escalating threats in air, land, and maritime domains, impacting the relationship between the two countries. The project explores the background, including congressional efforts to improve border security infrastructure and the implementation of automated entry/exit systems. The analysis focuses on the DHS Northern Border Security Strategy, its principles (national security, economic security, community resilience, and organizational integration), and objectives (reducing terrorism and illicit activities, promoting collaboration, and improving operations). The project also references key stakeholders and provides a comprehensive overview of the strategies and challenges related to US-Canada border security.

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Individual Project
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Table of Contents
Problem statement on DHS Delivers Northern Border Threat Analysis Report to Congress:. .3
Background:...............................................................................................................................3
References:.................................................................................................................................5
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Problem statement on DHS Delivers Northern Border Threat Analysis
Report to Congress:
The rate of security issue in Homeland is rapidly increasing. During 2017, the US
department of Homeland security had delivered a report to the congress by stating the current
threat landscape that is prevailing in US (Department of Homeland Security. 2020). From the
Northern border Threat Analysis report, it is evident that the rate of security related threat in
air, land, and maritime domains in between the US-Canada border is accelerating in a drastic
manner. It is important to note here that the factors like climate, threat from the environment
and volume of cross-border flow are in turn increasing the security issues. These security
issues are increasing the tension in between US and Canada, which in turn is hampering the
relationship in between the countries (Department of Homeland Security. 2020).
In the year 2018, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced that they
will strengthen their strategy in order to resolve the security issues and combat the rate of
terrorism (Department of Homeland Security. 2020). According to DHS, the strategy will
also facilitate both travel and trade in between US and China. The strategy aims to develop a
clear vision and effective actions that are needed to be taken by them for the sake of
safeguarding the northern border from the terrorism and criminal activities. In addition, this
strategy will also facilitate the flow of cross border trade and critical infrastructure that will
help in strengthening the infrastructure of protection and resilience of community
(Newsweek. 2020).
Background:
The security issues in US-Canada border is increasing in a drastic manner. Both the
countries are encountering extreme difficulties in the way of protecting the border and make
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balance of ample border security. This is affecting the cross border trade and travel, along
with border security. It is true that the congress is putting extreme stress and improving their
action with the intension of amplifying the security infrastructure, statistics of border travel
agent and the inspectors, who are responsible for the immigration process in the northern
border (Nationalaglawcenter.org. 2020). In addition, congress has also taken steps in the way
of providing the inspectors with technological support and equipment, so that they can track
both the entry and exit of foreign visitors with the help of automated entry/exit system.
However, implementation of this automated entry/exit system will hamper the cross border
travel in between US and Canada, as most of the Canadian nationals will be affected by the
new system. There lies the significance of Northern Border Security Strategy, which DHS is
aiming to implement in order to fix the security issue in US-Canada border. The main
principles of this northern border security strategy are:
 To preserve national security, protect economic security and thereby promote
resilience within community
 To support both cross border travel and trade
 To promote organisational integration
The fundamental objective of border security strategy is to lower the rate of cross border
terrorism and any kind of illicit activities and promote collaboration across both domestic and
international surveillance and information-sharing systems. Another major objective of this
strategy is to improve the operation in order to figure out disrupt terrorist and other illegal
cross-border activities. It is important for DHS to keep the stakeholders informed regarding
the strategy. Some of the major stakeholders of DHS are Office of the Citizenship and
Immigration Services Ombudsman, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and Office of
Public Engagement.
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References:
Department of Homeland Security. (2020). Government and Stakeholders – Working
Together to Finding Solutions. [online] Available at:
https://www.dhs.gov/blog/2011/10/21/government-and-stakeholders-%E2%80%93-
working-together-finding-solutions [Accessed 26 Feb. 2020].
Department of Homeland Security. (2020). Northern Border Strategy. [online] Available at:
https://www.dhs.gov/dhs-northern-border-strategy [Accessed 26 Feb. 2020].
Department of Homeland Security. (2020). DHS Delivers Northern Border Threat Analysis
Report to Congress. [online] Available at: https://www.dhs.gov/news/2017/08/03/dhs-
delivers-northern-border-threat-analysis-report-congress [Accessed 25 Feb. 2020].
Lybecker, D. L., McBeth, M. K., Brewer, A. M., & De Sy, C. (2018). The social construction
of a border: The US–Canada border. Journal of Borderlands Studies, 33(4), 529-547.
Nationalaglawcenter.org. (2020). CRS Report for Congress. [online] Available at:
http://www.nationalaglawcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/assets/crs/RS21258.pdf
[Accessed 25 Feb. 2020].
Newsweek. (2020). DHS has announced a "strengthened Northern border strategy" amid
growing tensions between the U.S. and Canada. [online] Available at:
https://www.newsweek.com/dhs-announces-strengthened-northern-border-strategy-
amid-growing-tensions-973115 [Accessed 25 Feb. 2020].
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