The development of the enforcement function at federal, state, and local levels

¶ … Department of Homeland Security and Drug Enforcement Agency

Government agencies are formed and utilized to oversee and administer certain functions within a government. Two government agencies that are well-known in the United States are the Department of Homeland Security and the Drug Enforcement Adminstration .

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the most recently formed agency, was created in response to the September 11th attacks in New York. It is the third largest Cabinet department and is coordinated at the White House by the Homeland Security Council.

The Department of Homeland Security's prime responsibility to protect the United States from terrorist attacks and to respond to natural disasters. The Department of Homeland Security operates within the civilian sphere to protect within, at, and outside the borders of the United States. Prior to 9/11, homeland security was spread over 40 agencies and had 2,000 separate Congressional appropriations accounts. In March 2001, Texas Representative Mac Thornberry proposed a bill that would create a National Homeland Security Agency incorporating the administration and functions of Customs, Border, Patrol, and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) into a single agency. Though hearings were held in regards to the bill, no further Congressional action was taken on the matter (Borja).

The Department of Homeland Security, as it is known today, was formed eleven days after 9/11 when President Bush announced that he was going to create the Office of Homeland Security and appointed Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge as the agency's director. DHS became operational on January 24, 2003, 60 days after the Homeland Security Act was passed. On March 1, 2003, DHS absorbed Immigration and Naturalization Services and split the agency into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Citizenship and Immigration Services; furthermore, U.S. Customs and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services were combined to form U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Overall, DHS incorporates 22 government agencies. The major agencies of DHS are the TSA, Customs and Border Protection, Citizenship and Immigration Services, ICE, FEMA, the U.S. Secret Service, and the U.S. Coast Guard (Borja).