The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, comparable to interior ministries abroad. Its missions involve anti-terrorism, civil defense, immigration and customs, border control, cybersecurity, transportation security, maritime security and sea rescue, and the mitigation of weapons of mass destruction.
It began operations on March 1, 2003, after being formed in a restructuring of the U.S. federal government prescribed by the Homeland Security Act of 2002, enacted in response to the September 11 attacks. With more than 240,000 employees, DHS is the third-largest Cabinet department, after the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs. Homeland security policy is coordinated at the White House by the Homeland Security Council. Other agencies with significant homeland security responsibilities include the departments of Health and Human Services, Justice, and Energy.
History Creation
In response to the September 11 attacks, President George W. Bush announced the establishment of the Office of Homeland Security (OHS) to coordinate "homeland security" efforts. The office was headed by former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge, who assumed the title of Assistant to the President for Homeland Security. The official announcement states:
Ridge began his duties as OHS director on October 8, 2001. According to The Washington Post, the Bush administration initially had "zero interest" in creating DHS, and Vice President Dick Cheney thought it would needlesly increase the size of government. Politico described Bush as resisting the creation of the cabinet-level department for months, hoping to build a structure similar to the National Security Council to coordinate interagency work, but political pressure for a reorganization ultimately became "inescapable". On November 25, 2002, the Homeland Security Act established the Department of Homeland Security to consolidate U.S. executive branch organizations related to "homeland security" into a single Cabinet agency. In January 2003, the office was superseded, but not replaced by the Department of Homeland Security and the White House Homeland Security Council, both of which were created by the Homeland Security Act of 2002. The Homeland Security Council, similar in nature to the National Security Council, retained a policy coordination and advisory role and is led by the assistant to the president for homeland security. The Gilmore Commission, supported by much of Congress and John Bolton, helped to solidify further the need for the department. The DHS incorporated the following 22 agencies. +List of incorporated agencies for DHS establishment Original agency Original department New agency or office after transfer U.S. Customs Service Treasury U.S. Customs and Border ProtectionU.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Immigration and Naturalization Service Justice U.S. Customs and Border ProtectionU.S. Immigration and Customs EnforcementU.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Federal Protective Service General Services Administration Management Directorate Transportation Security Administration Transportation Transportation Security Administration Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Treasury Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service(part) Agriculture U.S. Customs and Border Protection Federal Emergency Management Agency none Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Strategic National Stockpile Health and Human Services Originally assigned to FEMA, but returned to HHS in July 2004National Disaster Medical SystemHealth and Human ServicesOriginally assigned to FEMA, but returned to HHS in August 2006 Nuclear Incident Response Team Energy Responsibilities distributed within FEMA Domestic Emergency Support Team Justice Responsibilities distributed within FEMA Center for Domestic Preparedness Justice (FBI) Responsibilities distributed within FEMA CBRN Countermeasures Programs Energy Science & Technology Directorate Environmental Measurements Laboratory Energy Science & Technology Directorate National Biological WarfareDefense Analysis Center Defense Science & Technology Directorate Plum Island Animal Disease Center Agriculture Science & Technology Directorate Federal Computer Incident Response Center General Services Administration US-CERT, Office of Cybersecurity and CommunicationsNational Programs and Preparedness Directorate (now CISA) National Communications System Defense Office of Cybersecurity and CommunicationsNational Programs and Predaredness Directorate National Infrastructure Protection Center Justice (FBI) Office of Operations CoordinationOffice of Infrastructure Protection Energy Security and Assurance Program Energy Office of Infrastructure Protection U.S. Coast Guard Transportation U.S. Coast Guard U.S. Secret Service Treasury U.S. Secret Service
According to political scientist Peter Andreas, the creation of DHS constituted the most significant government reorganization since the Cold War[Peter Andreas: Redrawing the line 2003:92], additional text. and the most substantial reorganization of federal agencies since the National Security Act of 1947 (which had placed the different military departments under a secretary of defense and created the National Security Council and Central Intelligence Agency). Creation of DHS constitutes the most diverse merger ever of federal functions and responsibilities, incorporating 22 government agencies into a single organization.Perl, Raphael (2004). "The Department of Homeland Security: Background and Challenges", Terrorism—reducing Vulnerabilities and Improving Responses, Committee on Counterterrorism Challenges for Russia and the United States, Office for Central Europe and Eurasia Development, Security, and Cooperation Policy and Global Affairs, in Cooperation with the Russian Academy of Sciences, page 176. National Academies Press. .
The founding of the DHS also marked a change in American thought towards threats, reflective of the culture of anxiety and fear that had come about in the wake of the September 11 attacks. Introducing the term "homeland" centers attention on a population percived to be vulnerable, and which needs to be protected not only against emergencies such as natural disasters but also against hypothetical diffuse threats from individuals who are non-native to the United States. During the signing of the Homeland Security Act, President Bush spoke of "ruthless killers who move and plot in shadows."
Prior to the signing of the bill, controversy about its adoption was focused on whether the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency should be incorporated in part or in whole (neither was included). The bill was also controversial for the presence of unrelated "riders", as well as for eliminating certain union-friendly civil service and labor protections for department employees. Without these protections, employees could be expeditiously reassigned or dismissed on grounds of security, incompetence or insubordination, and DHS would not be required to notify their union representatives. The plan stripped 180,000 government employees of their union rights.Chomsky, Noam (2005). Imperial Ambitions, page 199. Metropolitan Books. . In 2002, Bush officials argued that the September 11 attacks made the proposed elimination of employee protections imperative.Stephen Barr. "DHS Withdraws Bid to Curb Union Rights", The Washington Post page D01, February 20, 2008. Retrieved on August 20, 2008.
In an August 5, 2002, speech, President Bush said: "We are fighting ... to secure freedom in the homeland."Bovard, James. "Moral high ground not won on battlefield", USA Today, October 8, 2008. Retrieved on August 19, 2008. Prior to the creation of DHS, U.S. Presidents had referred to the U.S. as "the nation" or "the republic" and to its internal policies as "domestic". Also unprecedented was the use, from 2002, of the phrase "the homeland" by White House spokespeople.
Congress ultimately passed the Homeland Security Act of 2002, and President Bush signed the bill into law on November 25, 2002. It was the largest U.S. government reorganization in the 50 years since the United States Department of Defense was created.
Tom Ridge was named secretary on January 24, 2003, and began naming his chief deputies. DHS officially began operations on January 24, 2003, but most of the department's component agencies were not transferred into the new department until March 1.
After establishing the basic structure of DHS and working to integrate its components, Ridge announced his resignation on November 30, 2004, following the re-election of President Bush. Bush initially nominated former New York City Police Department commissioner Bernard Kerik as his successor, but on December 10, Kerik withdrew his nomination, citing personal reasons and saying it "would not be in the best interests" of the country for him to pursue the post.
Changes under Secretary Chertoff On January 11, 2005, President Bush nominated federal judge Michael Chertoff to succeed Ridge. Chertoff was confirmed on February 15, 2005, by a vote of 98–0 in the U.S. Senate and was sworn in the same day.
In February 2005, DHS and the Office of Personnel Management issued rules relating to employee pay and discipline for a new personnel system named MaxHR. The Washington Post said that the rules would allow DHS "to override any provision in a union contract by issuing a department-wide directive" and would make it "difficult, if not impossible, for unions to negotiate over arrangements for staffing, deployments, technology and other workplace matters". In August 2005, U.S. District judge Rosemary M. Collyer blocked the plan on the grounds that it did not ensure collective-bargaining rights for DHS employees. A federal appeals court ruled against DHS in 2006; pending a final resolution to the litigation, Congress's fiscal year 2008 appropriations bill for DHS provided no funding for the proposed new personnel system. DHS announced in early 2007 that it was retooling its pay and performance system and retiring the name "MaxHR". In a February 2008 court filing, DHS said that it would no longer pursue the new rules, and that it would abide by the existing civil service labor-management procedures. A federal court issued an order closing the case. Chertoff's successor, Secretary Janet Napolitano deployed full body scanners to assist the United States Secret Service in 2012.
Trump and Biden administrations A 2017 memo by Secretary of Homeland Security John F. Kelly directed DHS to disregard "age as a basis for determining when to collect biometrics." On November 16, 2018, President Donald Trump signed the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act of 2018 into law, which elevated the mission of the former DHS National Protection and Programs Directorate and established the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. In fiscal year 2018, DHS was allocated a net discretionary budget of $47.716 billion.