Homeland Security Department of Homeland

¶ … Homeland Security

Department of Homeland Security

Since President Bush established the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2003, it has undergone constant change in scope, composition, and jurisdiction. (It had been the White House Office of Homeland Security since October 2001). The performance of DHS has been the subject of enormous scrutiny by the public as well as unprecedented oversight by 86 different congressional committees, particularly since The DHS/FEMA failures after Hurricane Katrina.

Right now, the perception of the department's ability to secure the safety and security of the country is poor. By the way, these are not only the results of surveys of public and private organizations, but of DHS employees as well. Like it or not, at the moment, it is a fact.

Jurisdiction & Mission

DHS is an enormously complex and broad organization with over 20 different agencies and a quarter of a million employees. Its directorates are responsible for everything from physical and virtual threats to U.S. security, to federal law enforcement, to federal emergency management and the Secret Service and U.S. Coast Guard. When the agency was first organized, it was accurately estimated it would take up to ten years for it to become completely functional. That estimate is valid today.

If we look at the overall objective of the department, it would consist of four basic elements that the American public and Congress expect it to accomplish: prevent terrorist attacks within the U.S., minimize this country's vulnerability to terrorism, limit any damage done from a terrorist attack and aid in the recovery from such an attack, and handle effectively and efficiently both natural and manmade disasters that impact the U.S. As well as emergency preparedness for such events. In addition, its mission would have to include the additional task of keeping this nation's borders safe and secure.

DHS jurisdiction includes coordinating federal resources in these situations whenever a federal department or agency requests assistance. If state and local resources are overwhelmed, as in Katrina, and federal help is requested, it is DHS responsibility to coordinate those activities. It is also the responsibility of DHS to coordinate if more than one federal department has become significantly involved in an incident, regardless of any request. And, anytime the President directs the agency to take over responsibility for a domestic problem the DHS must comply.

Regarding its support of state and local governments, DHS' jurisdiction includes responsibility for assisting them with planning, training, equipment, and practice exercises/scenarios replicating actual natural or manmade disasters. DHS also must ensure that all state and federal plans are attuned to each other. The department has to communicate and ensure coordination with private and nongovernmental organizations to ensure that all of these same functions are compatible with state and federal guidelines.

Breadth of Responsibilities

All of the DHS responsibilities relate back to the primary jurisdiction and mission responsibilities listed above. Information sharing and analysis, prevention and protection, preparedness and response, research, commerce and trade, travel security, and immigration all are functions of keeping our country safe from terrorists and responding to both manmade and natural disasters.

The auxiliary functions of the department such as the Secret Service, U.S. Coast Guard, FEMA, Immigration and Customs, the Transportation Security Administration, and the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) all add to the breadth of DHS functionality, and fall under the primary mission statement of the department. Even the OIG, which is responsible for auditing the internal functioning of DHS including fraud and abuse indirectly operates as a function of ensuring this primary mission is carried out effectively.

Is the DHS Effectively Organized?

After a couple of re-organizations over the years, yes, it is, in the sense that all of the agencies and departments within DHS have functionality that relates to the primary mission.

However, it is clear that the department continues to evolve from its original small and narrow beginnings as a response to 9/11. And as the global situation changes, so will the primary tasks of this department. It simply has not reached full "maturity" yet.

Considerations have been made from time to include agencies such as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the FBI in the DHS. However, the primary missions of each of these departments are distinct and separate from DHS. Though the FBI and ATF may be involved in the criminal aspects of terrorism or man-made disaster situations, their focus is primarily domestic and international crime. Besides that, the functionality of these agencies would add even more breadth to the DHS mission which could spread it even thinner than it is. It would also decrease the effectiveness of DHS' mission.