Ideology Hurting Homeland’s Security

On Tuesday, February 24, 2015, CNN National Security Analyst Juliette Kayyem, published an article on CNN called “Ideology Hurting Homeland’s Security.” First off, I would like to tell you a bit of background information about Juliette Kayyem. Juliette is a former assistant secretary in the U.S. Homeland Security department and is currently a Government professor at Harvard University. Juliette’s intended audience for this article is for the American people. The synopsis of Juliette’s article is to educate the Americans about the affects of holding funds from U.S. Homeland Security. Juiliette explains the selfish actions of the House Republicans, which chose to hold funds from the Department of Homeland Security to make an “Ideology Point,” concerning President Obama’s decision to rescind the deportation of immigrants. Juiliette goes into detail about not only would the deadlock affect DHS, but also it affects the people’s sense of security. For an example, Border Patrol, TSA, and DHS will require to go to work and not get paid, which puts their family’s well-being at risk. Also, there would be no funds to support the disaster relief programs, which are in the middle of aiding the citizens in Boston who are suffering from multiple blizzards. Juiliette closes her argument saying ideology differences can only go so far and if there are no funds to support the Department of Homeland Security, then the Americans homeland security would be at stake.

I believe Juiliette’s argument is definitely justifiable because she is concerned for the well-being of all Americans and not just a specific group. I am absolutely convinced by Juiliette’s argument for several reasons. For one, she was a former assistant secretary in the Department of Homeland Security so her statements about what would happen if DHS ran out of funds are reliable. It also seems like the House Republicans are not clearly thinking things through as far as the significance of the standoff and how it would affect our country. I just hope the House Republicans can come to a resolution soon to avoid unnecessary events that could transpire from the deadlock.

U.S. copters support Iraqi troops battling ISIS

On February 13, 2015, CNN reports that an Apache unit was deployed to help out the Iraqi troops in Ayn al-Assad Air Base to defend against ISIS. Even though the U.S. forces were there to support the Iraqi miltants, the apaches didn't have to use force. ISIS has been an ongoing issue and has been taking over a majority of U.S. and Iraqi bases. The fact that the Apache unit were there to support the Iraqi militants raises questions on how much the U.S. has to get involve with the fight against ISIS. This article is important because this may cause the U.S. National Government to deploy more troops out to Iraq to fight the war against ISIS. I'm very passionate about this topic because I was one of the last units to leave Iraq and I feel all the work the troops and I had to go through was all for nothing.