Homeland Security

Homeland Security is a 2004 American television drama film about the creation of the United States Department of Homeland Security in response to the September 11 attacks. It was directed by Daniel Sackheim, written by Christopher Crowe, and stars Scott Glenn and Tom Skerritt. Originally produced for NBC as a pilot for a series that never materialized, it instead aired on NBC as a stand-alone film on April 11, 2004. Plot Admiral Theodore McKee is retired, when following the events of 9/11 he receives a call from the White House informing him that his commander in chief requires him to serve his country once again. Shortly after this he is sworn into office as a senior member of the Office of Homeland Security (OHS) under Tom Ridge. Once in office Admiral McKee faces the challenge of organizing this new office so as to prevent further terrorist attacks against the United States. With this in mind Admiral McKee's wife, Elise, recommends he speak to his friend, NSA agent Sol Binder. Following a meeting with Binder, McKee recruits him into OHS. After which Binder comes up with a plan for the new agency, all law enforcement agencies within the United States will have to put their rivalries aside and funnel all intelligence into the OHS. We first meet Binder at the beginning of the film prior to the events of 9/11, where he is meeting with a group of NSA agents with intelligence on a planned terrorist attack that is to take place in the United States where the number Nine and Eleven keep popping up, it is not until the day of the attacks that Binder was able to piece it together. It is Binder's belief that had there been a cooperative organization such as the OHS, the attacks could have been averted. While the main concern of the film is the establishment of the OHS, which following Congress' approval would become the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), there are a number of subplots, out of chronological sequence, involved in the film. Such subplots include the invasion of Afghanistan, use of precision-guided air strikes with weapons such as GPS-guided JDAMs, the Customs agent on the Canadian border stopping the vehicle carrying explosives for the attempted Millennium bombing, the pursuit of Osama bin Laden and the destruction of Al'Qaeda training camps in the Middle East, as well as in the beginning of the film. Admiral McKee's daughter, Melissa, is due to leave New Jersey for San Francisco on September 11, 2001, on United Airlines Flight 93.