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The September 11 attack of the United States was a big challenge for the US government in its efforts to maintain security for its citizens globally. Terrorism attack and threats have continuously affected the performance of the US economy as well as other countries economies based on the huge financial resources used to counter attack the terrorism activities. This paper will intensively analyze the steps that Homeland security has taken to change IT. Likewise, the paper will discuss how IT has changed the performance of Homeland security.

Homeland security is a combination of US agencies which was established in 2003 after the September 11 attack. These agencies include US Secret Service, Civil air patrol, US Coast Guard and US National Guard among others. Homeland Security has deeply recognized the need to protect the US and other countries in the world against cyber attack. In this regard, the agency has formed alliances with cyber security teams such as CSIRTs.With the assistance of CSIRTs, US based voluntary teams which deal with cyber security, the agency has effectively reduced the chances of use of internet to cause havoc in US and other countries targeted by terrorists. The second step taken by Homeland Security is that it has reinforced the rules in the migration department in terms of adopting high technology system to analyze documents and parcels owed by the persons travelling to or within US. To achieve this, the security agency has invested more than 300 million US dollars. The third strategy adopted by Homeland security is that it has made it mandatory for the companies manufacturing IT systems including hardware and software to produce products with high security abilities in order to avoid any leakage of vital information to terrorists. The forth step taken by Homeland Security to protect American people against terrorism is the  high technology system to inside airplanes and airports as well as intensive screening of all passengers using the airplanes. Similarly, security systems have been adopted in banks and at sea ports. All these are the measures which the government has continued to fully support in order to avoid a repeat of the September 11 attack (Wolf and Naomi, 2007).

On the hand, IT has changed Homeland Security in many ways. One of the ways is that it has resulted to the establishment of policies and agencies with skills to curb the terrorism internet activities. Secondly IT has forced the Homeland security to seek the assistance of NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology).This is a US based organization of researchers who ensures safety of gas, water distribution and overall control system in the industries. It is worth noting the terrorism threats propelled Homeland Security to utilize NIST services thus improving its performance. It is however imperative to note that IT has also negatively affected the performance of Homeland security. This is based on the fact that terrorists utilize the advanced Information Technology systems to send threats and research on the antiterrorism strategies emulated by US government.