The roles and strategies of private sector security in homeland security The private security-law enforcement partnerships have been in existence for a long, but the perception changed following the 9/11 attacks. After the attacks, such partnerships are viewed as an important aspect in dealing with terrorism-related activities. Currently, private security manages over 85 percent of the country’s critical infrastructure (Hayes & Ebinger, 2011). On the other hand, the local law enforcement mostly handles information on threats to the infrastructures, which are manned by the private sector. Therefore, the partnership between the two entities ensures that the private sector gets the right information in good time to execute its mandate before the threats can materialize and lead to destruction. The partnership between the private security sector and the homeland security will ensure the efficiency of each partner, which will lead to optimal service delivery to the American residents. For instance, the private security sector worked collaboratively with the homeland security agencies during the 9/11 attacks, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and Hurricane Katrina to contain the situation by offering immediate solutions to the arising matters. This section addresses the roles and strategies of the private security sector in homeland security. The protection of critical infrastructure is one of the major roles of the private sector security in homeland security. The private security sector works closely with the Office of Infrastructure Protection (OIP), which is a department within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The OIP works on “threat and vulnerability analyses, national and local-level coordination with businesses and government agencies, and risk mitigation” (Busch & Austenm, 2012, p. 11). Apparently, the private security sector deals mainly with these six areas, and thus, it works with the OPI under the Critical Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council (CIPAC) to exchange information and facilitate the coordination of the protection activities. Therefore, the strategy, in this case, involves the exchange of important information with government agencies to ensure that the private security sector meets its obligations to its clients and the country as a whole. The private security sector also plays a critical role in ensuring cybersecurity. The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) “works hand in hand with the private security sector to ensure that computer users know how to protect themselves from cybercrimes” (Busch & Austenm, 2012, p. 16). The NCSA collaborates with the different players in the IT sector like Facebook, Microsoft, Google, and Visa among others to ensure seamless sharing of information to avert or contain cybercrime incidences. For instance, in 2011 Google came across what appeared like the phishing of personal information belonging to senior US government officials. Google established that the intrusion originated from China, and thus, it alerted the FBI. The DHS then worked with Google to assess the impact of the intrusion and devise ways to avoid such incidences in the future. Such collaborative efforts underscore the role of the private security sector in ensuring cybersecurity to all technology users in the US. Bes