United States Department of Homeland Security
The
United States Department of Homeland Security (
DHS), commonly known as
Homeland Security, is a
Cabinet department of the
Federal Government of the United States with the responsibility of protecting the territory of the United States from terrorist attack and responding to natural disasters. The department was created from 22 existing federal agencies in response to the
terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Whereas the
Department of Defense is charged with military actions abroad, the Department of Homeland Security works in the civilian sphere to protect the United States within, at, and outside its borders. Its goal is to prepare for, prevent, and respond to domestic emergencies, particularly terrorism.
DHS is the third largest cabinet department in the US federal government after the
Department of Defense and
Department of Veterans Affairs. It has approximately 184,000 employees. Homeland security policy is coordinated at the
White House by the
Homeland Security Council, with
Frances Townsend as the Homeland Security Advisor. Other agencies with significant homeland security responsibilities include the
Department of Health and Human Services, the
Department of Justice, and the
Department of Energy.
On
September 20,
2001, in response to the
September 11, 2001 attacks, President
George W. Bush announced the establishment of an
Office of Homeland Security (
OHS) to coordinate "
homeland security" efforts, to be headed by Governor
Tom Ridge with the title of
Assistant to the President for Homeland Security. The name is reminiscent of the British WW2-era Department of Home Security. The official announcement stated:
The mission of the Office will be to develop and coordinate the implementation of a comprehensive national strategy to secure the United States from
terrorist threats or attacks. The Office will coordinate the executive branch's efforts to detect, prepare for, prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from terrorist attacks within the United States.[
1]
Former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge took up his duties as OHS director on
October 8,
2001.
On
March 12,
2002, the
Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS), a color-coded terrorism risk advisory scale, was created as a
Presidential Directive to provide a "comprehensive and effective means to disseminate information regarding the risk of terrorist acts to Federal, State, and local authorities and to the American people." Many procedures at government facilities are keyed off of the alert level; for example a facility may search all entering vehicles when the alert is above a certain level. Since
January 2003, it has been administered in coordination with the DHS; it has also been the target of frequent jokes and ridicule on the part of the administration's detractors about its perceived ineffectiveness. After resigning, Tom Ridge complained that he didn't always agree with the threat level adjustments pushed by other government agencies.
In January 2003, the office was merged into 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, retains a policy coordination and advisory role and is led by the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security.
The department was established on
November 25,
2002, by the
Homeland Security Act of 2002. After months of discussion about employee rights and benefits and "
rider" portions of the bill, it was signed into law by U.S. President
George W. Bush. It was intended to consolidate U.S. executive branch organizations related to "
homeland security" into a single
cabinet agency. 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 1st.
It was the largest government reorganization in 50 years (since the
United States Department of Defense was created).
After establishing the basic structure of DHS and working to integrate its components and get the department functioning, Ridge announced his resignation on
November 30,
2004, following the re-election of President Bush. Bush initially nominated former
NYPD 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. 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. He was sworn in the same day.
 |
President George W. Bush signs the Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2004. |
Controversy about adoption centered on whether the
FBI and the
CIA should be incorporated in part or in whole (both were not). The bill itself was also controversial for the presence of unrelated riders, as well as eliminating some standard
civil service and labor protections from employees of the department. President Bush wanted the right to fire an employee within Homeland Security immediately for security reasons, for incompetence, or insubordination. Then-
Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle wanted an appeals process that could take up to 18 months or as little as one month. A federal court injunction has blocked many aspects of the new personnel system as they relate to employee pay and discipline. Plans to proceed with the performance management aspects of the system are continuing.
DHS Organizational ChartDirectorates
*
Under Secretary for Preparedness**
Chief Medical Officer** Assistant Secretary for Cyber & Telecommunications
**
Assistant Secretary for Grants & Training** Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection
**
Administrator of the
U.S. Fire Administration** Director of the
Office of National Capital Region Coordination**
Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives*
Under Secretary for Science & Technology**
Director of the Office of Plans, Programs & Requirements**
Director of the Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency**
Director of the Office of Research & Development**
Director of the Office of Systems Engineering & Development*
Under Secretary for Management** Chief Administrative Services Officer
**
Chief Financial Officer** Chief Human Capital Officer
**
Chief Information Officer** Chief Procurement Officer
**
Chief Security Officer*
Under Secretary for Federal Emergency Management/
Federal Emergency Management Agency** Deputy Director of FEMA
** General Counsel
** Director of Operations
*** Deputy Director of Operations
** Director of Response
** Director of Recovery
** Director of the Mitigation Division/Federal Insurance Administrator
** Director, Office of Equal Rights
** Chief Information Officer
** Director of Strategic Planning & Evaluation
** Deputy Director for Gulf Coast Recovery
**
Regional Directors*
Assistant Secretary for Policy** Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Policy Development
** Assistant Secretary, Office of International Affairs
** Assistant Secretary, Office of the Private Sector
** Assistant Secretary, Office of Strategic Plans
** Director, Office of Immigration Statistics
** Special Advisor, Asylum & Refugee Affairs
* Assistant Secretary, Office of Intelligence and Analysis/Chief Intelligence Officer
* Director, Office of Operations Coordination
* Director, Office of Counternarcotics Enforcement
* Director of the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office
Major Agencies
* Assistant Secretary for
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement* Assistant Secretary for the
Transportation Security Administration* Commissioner of
U.S. Customs and Border Protection* Director of the
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services* Director of the
United States Secret Service* Director of the
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center* Commandant of the
United States Coast GuardAs part of the reorganization within the department, on March 1, 2004 the National Incident Management System (NIMS) was created. The idea behind was to provide a consistent nationwide approach for Federal, State. local and tribal governments. Under Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD)-5 all Federal departments were required to adopt the NIMS and to use it in their individual domestic incident management and emergency prevention, preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation program and activities. A few months later in December 2004 the National Response Plan(NRP) was created, in an attempt to align Federal coordination structures, capabilities, and resources into a unified, all-discipline, and all-hazards approach to domestic incident management. The NRP was built on the template of the NIMS.
DHS provides grants through a variety of programs to states, localities, first responders, and universities.
CREATE - Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events - the first university center of excellence funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, is an interdisciplinary national research center based at the
University of Southern California. The Center comprises a team of experts from across the country, including partnerships with
New York University and the
University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Soon after the formation of Department of Homeland Security,
the Martin Agency of
Richmond, Virginia provided
pro bono work to create "
Ready.gov", a readiness website. The site and materials were conceived as early as March 2002 but were launched in February of 2003, just before the launch of the
Iraq War [
2] [
3] [
4]. One of the first announcements that garnered widespread public attention to this campaign was one by Tom Ridge in which he stated that in the case of a chemical attack, citizens should use duct tape and plastic sheeting to build a homemade bunker, or "sheltering in place" [
5] [
6] to protect themselves. As a result, the sales of duct tape skyrocketed and DHS received criticism that they were being too
alarmist. [
7] [
8]
*
*
Brian Doyle*
Container Security Initiative*
Homeland Security Advisory System*
United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT)
*
United States Department of Homeland Security*
U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security homepage*
The White House - Homeland Security*
ANSI Homeland Security Standards Panel (ANSI-HSSP)
*
DHS website to promote readiness to defend against attack*
Federal Air Marshal Association*
Homeland Security Watch*
HSToday*
'DHS plots maritime awareness roadmap', April 2006
