The expenditures that collectively make up the U.S. homeland security budget are now a substantial portion of our federal spending. State and local spending for homeland security related measures has also risen proportionately. One result of this spending and it's increasingly prominent portion of our gross national budget can be seen in the availability of positions that are related to homeland security.

From local law enforcement to the administrative levels of the Department of Homeland Security itself, new positions have been created for the express purpose of meeting the nations ever expanding demand for qualified personnel in this field. Unprecedented growth for homeland security related employment opportunities is expected for the next several years, as the complete development of the protocols that will serve as an integrated national security policy are implemented and fully realized. The availability of non-federal homeland security positions has dramatically increased for state and local governments, municipalities, townships and private industry. Emergency preparedness for every conceivable event, from disasters to data loss, has become a major industry in the last few years.

Unquestionably, the lack of properly trained personnel to fill the specialized positions that have arisen from this new source of employment is of great concern. While upper echelon management positions are often appointed, there are several administrative and non-supervisory positions which will need to be filled. The efforts of all levels of intelligence gathering and law enforcement personnel must be collected, coordinated and culminated into an efficient working database that can be accessed by the various agencies that are responsible for our nation's security. The orchestration of a task of this magnitude is massive in scale and will require a substantial labor force.