Lessons from the US on securing our country

Last month, I joined fellow members of the Administration and National Security Committee on a benchmarking trip to the United States of America.

We were amazed at how the US has used every disaster to learn and prepare for the future. Americans have embedded the military, the intelligence, the police, the citizens and all security stakeholders. They all understand that terrorists and those who wish them harm will get lucky some times, BUT civilians should be lucky all the time.

What does this mean? Human life is the priority of everyone.

Public safety, education and health are priority areas in the US and take the lion’s share of the budget. Capitation in homeland security stands at a startling nearly 40 billion dollars for the federal government per centum. This is notwithstanding, independent budgets of state governments whose function is policing while army is a federal responsibility.

The chief responsibility of any government is to monitor and control public behaviour to maintain law and order. Good budgetary appropriations capture the sensitivity of governance to public safety. Institutions have the requisite capacity with clear structures to function optimally.

The National Academy of Public Administration, an independent and non-partisan body created by a Congress Charter brings together distinguished fellows from the academia, retired servants and legislators acting as the think-tank for government institutions.

One significant outcome is creation of the Department of Homeland Security that brought together related actors for better coordination and synchronised action following lapses and discordance in responding to the September 9/11 attacks.
Service delivery isn’t pegged on unimplemented service charters on ministry notices like in Kenya but good civic education like informative statements on billboards.

For instance, “The pedestrian can’t be fixed in a body shop.” These slogans offer effective communication and have sown deepening patriotism, public discipline and national consciousness to threats.

Interestingly, policing is a civilian responsibility established for multiple jurisdictions notably University Police and Buildings

Police among others. Police are well paid and numbers sufficient. In US, a police officer is most respected and feared for being incorruptible. They are treated well than many other professions and they too are checked not to abuse these privileges.

The states have their own police to enforce different state laws but whose lowest denominator is the federal law. There is no standard training for police and each jurisdiction has its own curriculum with specialised training offered by the federal government for police regions.

A cop trained in Kiganjo shouldn’t therefore be expected to deliver in Nairobi, Kapedo, Suguta Valley and Mandera in the same way.

Information on security threats are made public in some lay way for public level response which is perceived as more effective than that which any mighty government can do.

The public are also given extensive training through simulations for better individual response and mitigate mass deaths when attacks occur. This was also informed by the 9/11 incident that led to litigations after learning that the FBI had intelligence reports, which were not disclosed. This is why travel advisories are issued to Americans in areas of imminent perceived threats.

In a bid to understand or answer the “What Ifs”, the federal government has contingency plans for all possible disasters. They will not wait to realise existence of an underground escape tunnel like in Westagate Shopping Mall, but forearmed with plans for any eventuality, say the route of a bloom just in case a nuclear accident occurs.

In US, disasters offer an opportunity to learn, prepare and change forward so that they don’t happen again. Disaster scenes are memorial centres to reflect in this pursuit. In contrast, the Kenyan culture is to cry first, sing in memory of the fallen and then forget it all together without informing our future responses.

With immense police and security setups in the US, there are no lapses thanks to constant and immediate sharing of communication. Border security is tighter involving use of sensors, infrared for heat detection, computer signals, vehicle barricades, aerial surveillance, manpower and many more.

All said and done, security is a human need basic to all and can be guaranteed only by a happy force whose morale is sensitively handled. Let policing be a civilian role and devolved to counties in Kenya. The Nyumba Kumi initiative is one move in that direction.