Plenary Session 11: Addressing the Push Factors of Migration

Our society is shifting rapidly and our longstanding institutions are trying to keep pace. New technologies, better training, and efforts to diversify our nation’s police forces have all had positive impact. Everyday we call on our police to be more than law enforcement officers and expect them to also respond to nonviolent calls relating to mental illness, addiction, and other social ills. Still we hear for calls to “defund.” Is it time to ask more of our police and cut resources? What technologies might we better leverage in our policing?

The Earth is flat; the moon landing was faked; COVID vaccines change your DNA; Pineapple belongs on pizza?! Our open society is constantly bombarded with disinformation, some of it even deliberately driven by malign actors. But with trust in institutions of all types eroding, who can our society turn to for truth? When only a third of those raised and educated here can pass the US citizenship test, do we even truly understand the functions of our own government and society?

The Homeland Security Enterprise was built with an initial focus on external threats and natural disasters. In the past 20 years, most attacks in the US have come from domestically radicalized individuals and we are seeing an increase in hate groups motivated toward violence. How are we working to address radicalization of all stripes? Can the federal counterterrorism enterprise support domestic operations while keeping with our national core values?