European Union and Homeland Security Strategies

European Union and Homeland Security Strategies

The European Union (EU) and the United States partnership are considered an essential aspect of solving some of the world’s complex challenges. The relationship, though, sometimes faces turbulence on diplomatic relations continues to thrive economically and most integrated. However, the most defining integration among the two nations comes from the defense and security of their own countries and external boundaries (EU). Faced with the threat of terrorism, the US and the European Union have redefined their approaches and policies towards counter-terrorism measures. The study, therefore, seeks to understand what different methods and procedures define the complexity of the two counter-terrorism strategy. Both the United States and the European have similar sophisticated approaches and policies of counter-terrorism measures.

The problem of terrorism is a complex and uncertain yet urgent matter; thus, the need for the two to continually redefine their approaches as they try to outdo the others in security levels. The 9/11 attack on 11 September 2001 in New York changed the global perception of the contemporary terrorist threat becoming a redefining moment and change in the security measures (Cornish,2008). The internal and external security measures have proved necessary among the different policymakers. In the United States, the Homeland security approach was adopted, concentrating on the civil protection of the US territory within its borders, reducing vulnerability, and become able to recover in case of an attack occurrence. However, there is also a need to safeguard its interest and fighting the US’s enemies abroad through the Homeland Defense external strategy. The United States views motivate them as participants in a war of terror, which is necessary and calls for application of pre-emptive strikes and induction of regimes change to bring security and peace in the world and within its borders.

The two-nation approaches are similar also in the way they give importance to the need for integrating the internal and external security measures. A more concerning issue in the war on terror from the two fonts has been the cybersecurity measures. Fight against cyber-crimes has increased in both nations as terrorists are becoming more and more sophisticated in their attacks through cyber. Both the United States and the European nations have put measures and strategies to Critical Information Infrastructure Protection. Also, the countries put policies to safeguard lands against biological attacks. United States sought the systems useful from the 2001 anthrax attacks, while the EU strategy was concerned with the proliferation of WMD of 2003. With each country putting up agencies to safeguard and ensure the country biosecurity. Though the two fronts hold same aspects on the views and need for an integration of the internal and external war on terror approach, they contradict in various execution n policies of their security agencies differing in their homeland security approaches. Though they tend to achieve the common goal, the way of treating terrorist threats and security measures differ.

However, terrorism in the European Union nations is viewed as a criminal activity that can become solved, applying necessary measures of law enforcement. The EU counter-terrorism policy lies in the hands of judicial systems and law enforcement, which is regarded as a responsibility of the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) (Cornish,2008). However, it was not until the 2004 bombing in Madrid that awakened the EU in adopting internal counter-terrorism measures. The number of countries involved in the union makes it difficult for the association to take Homeland security strategies to combat both external and external terrorism threats (Cornish, 2008).

However, though they both emphasize combating counter-terrorism, the difference in the two strategies arises from the lack of unification from the EU. At the same time, the United States, which acts as one country, is unified when it comes to the war on terror. EU different nations have no department of homeland security. France, for instance, relies on institutional practices in various ministries. Also, the European Union contrasts with the United States in counter-terrorism war on the use of different agencies. United States bases its war on terror on military use while the EU uses law enforcement agencies to counter the terrorism war (Archick, 2006).

Consequently, the transatlantic relationship proves to become the crucial security in the global by creating stability among the United States and the European Nations. The association has proved essential in the fight against Somali pirates. Therefore the need for interrelations and collaboration should not become underestimated in the fight against nuclear weapons. Nevertheless, the two need to have a common perspective on the global issue instead of the different views on terror resulting in various approaches and policies, making the fight against terror difficult on the international font. Both the EU and the United States have sophisticated counter-terrorism measures. Still, the US seems more lethal since it was formed out of necessity instead of as a transformational need in the security agencies of a country. These have enabled the US to thrive in protecting its boundaries and keeping peace far beyond its countries more than the European Union.

References

Archick, K. (2006). European Approaches to Homeland Security and Counterterrorism. Fas.org. Retrieved from https://fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/RL33573.pdf.

Cornish, P. (2008). HOMELAND SECURITY AND THE EUROPEAN SECURITY STRATEGY. Europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved from https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/etudes/join/2008/385522/EXPO-SEDE_ET(2008)385522_EN.pdf.

1. EU-U.S. Security Strategies comparative scenarios and recommendations. Iai.it. Retrieved from https://www.iai.it/sites/default/files/eu-us-security-strategies_summary.pdf.