FAQ's: HOmeland Defense

Question: What is Homeland Defense?

Answer: The protection of U.S. sovereignty, territory, domestic population, and critical defense infrastructure against external threats and aggression, or other threats as directed by the President. The Department of Defense is responsible for homeland defense.

Question: What is Homeland Security?

Answer: A concerted national effort to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, reduce America's vulnerability to terrorism, and minimize the damage and recover from attacks that do occur. The Department of Homeland Security is the lead Federal agency for homeland security.

Question: When was the position of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense established?

Answer: On November 13, 2002, Congress passed and, on December 2, 2002, the President signed into law the Bob Stump National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2003 (Public Law 107-314). Section 902 of Public Law 107-314 provided that "[o]ne of the Assistant Secretaries shall be the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense. He shall have as his principal duty the overall supervision of the homeland defense activities of the Department of Defense." On January 9, 2003, the President nominated and, on February 4, 2003, the Senate confirmed the Honorable Paul McHale to serve as the first Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense.

Question: What are the responsibilities of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense?

Answer: As required by Section 902 of Public Law 107-314, the Assistant Secretary of Defense (ASD(HD)) is responsible for "the overall supervision of the homeland defense activities of the Department of Defense" under the authority, direction and control of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and, as appropriate, in coordination with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. As such, the ASD(HD) provides oversight to DoD homeland defense activities, develops policies, conducts analyses, provides advice, and makes recommendations on homeland defense, defense support of civil authorities, emergency preparedness and domestic crisis management matters within the Department.Specifically, the ASD(HD) assists the Secretary of Defense in providing policy direction on homeland defense matters through the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to United States Northern Command and other Combatant Commands, as applicable, to guide the development and execution of their plans and activities. To focus the planning and execution of DoD activities and the use of resources in preventing or responding to crises, the ASD(HD) serves as the DoD Domestic Crisis Manager. To address the complexities of the interagency and intergovernmental environments, the ASD(HD) represents DoD on all homeland matters with designated Lead Federal Agencies, the Executive Office of the President, the Department of Homeland Security, other Executive Departments and Federal Agencies, and State and local entities, as appropriate.

In September 2003, the ASD(HD) was assigned the responsibility for Defense Critical Infrastructure Protection and the responsibility for DoD's roles as Sector Specific Agency for the Defense Industrial Base, as specified by the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace (February 2003), the National Strategy for the Physical Protection of Critical Infrastructure and Key Assets (February 2003), and Homeland Security Presidential Directive - 7 Critical Infrastructure Identification, Prioritization, and Protection (December 2003).

On December 21, 2005, Congress passed and, on January 6, 2006, the President signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006 (Public Law 109-163). Section 1031 of Public Law 109-163 provided that "[t]he Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense is responsible for the coordination of Department of Defense assistance to Federal, State, and local officials in responding to threats involving nuclear, radiological, biological, chemical weapons or high-yield explosives or related materials or technologies, including assistance in identifying, neutralizing, dismantling, and disposing of nuclear, radiological, biological, chemical weapons, and high-yield explosives and related materials and technologies."

Question: What military commands are directly involved in the defense of the homeland?

Answer: Four military commands - U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), U.S. Pacific Command (USPACOM), and U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) - are directly involved in the defense of the homeland. Additionally, the U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) was designated by the Secretary of Defense in 2005 to be the lead combatant commander for integrating and synchronizing military efforts to combat weapons of mass destruction, including ensuring the force structure and necessary resources are in place to help all combatant commands defeat weapons of mass destruction.

Question: What is the mission of U.S. Northern Command?

Answer: United States Northern Command conducts operations to deter, prevent, and defeat threats and aggression aimed at the United States, its territories and interests within assigned areas of responsibility; as directed by the President or Secretary of Defense, provides military assistance to civil authorities, including consequence management operations.