Midterm Assignment

Drawing upon resource material provided and that discovered while conducting your own research, students are expected to develop a written essay of 4-5 pages total (not including title page and reference list) to fully provide the requested information regarding the following two topics (both must be addressed):

Topic 1: Fully describe the overall concepts of homeland security and homeland defense. Construct a response that provides the following related to both homeland security and homeland defense:

• Primary missions, tasks, duties, responsibilities, operations, etc. for each broad initiative.
• Resources needed/utilized to address them
• Highlight those responsibilities and efforts that are shared between the two
• Lastly, provide your own definition of homeland security.

Topic 2: Provide an overview of our nation’s critical infrastructure with an emphasis on the following:

• Its relationship to homeland security and homeland defense
• Specific resources needed to adequately protect it
• Offer your assessment concerning our nation’s current infrastructure protection efforts
• For identified vulnerabilities, in what ways should they be addressed?

Assigned Sources:

National Infrastructure Protection Plan: https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/National-Infrastructure-Protection-Plan-2013-508.pdf

Homeland Security: Roles and Missions for United States Northern Command: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/RL34342.pdf

Scoring Rubric:

A copy of the complete scoring rubric for this assignment is attached. The following is a synopsis of that rubric.

Area of Evaluation	Maximum Points
Focus/Thesis	20
Content/Subject Knowledge	20
Critical Thinking Skills	20
Organization of Ideas/Format	20
Writing Conventions	20

Technical Requirements:

Length: 4-5 pages total (excluding required title page and reference list), double spaced, 1″ margins, 12 pitch type in Times New Roman font.

Sources: A minimum of 4-5 academically acceptable sources are to be utilized. Sources for this assignment are to come from both assigned readings and that obtained from conducting own research. You are not limited to the pages assigned from each document, but are limited to those documents only to defend and support your arguments/claims.

Citations/References: You must use APA (Parenthetical in-text) style for citations and reference list this assignment (no end notes or footnotes).