The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the federal cabinet-level department responsible for public safety. The job of protecting the United States falls on homeland security professionals in numerous disciplines—from emergency response to counter-terrorism to cybersecurity.
While many people associate the DHS with terrorist attacks, it actually shoulders a much broader set of responsibilities. Its stated missions include anti-terrorism, but also immigration, customs, cyber security, border security, and disaster prevention and management.
With more than 240,000 employees, DHS is the third-largest cabinet department, after the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs. As of 2022, the DHS’ budget allocation was $183.57 billion. Approximately half of DHS’ budget is dedicated to FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The next largest portion is for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the third largest is for the U.S. Coast Guard.
DHS was created after the September 11, 2001 bombings as a way of improving homeland security by grouping together agencies with security responsibilities. The goal was to improve inter-agency communication. The creation of DHS constituted the most significant government reorganization since the Cold War and the most substantial reorganization of federal agencies since the National Security Act of 1947 (which created the National Security Council and the Central Intelligence Agency).
DHS integrated portions of 22 different agencies, from the Coast Guard and the Secret Service to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. It took sections of the following departments: Treasury, Justice, General Services Administration, Transportation, Agricultures, Health and Human Services, Energy, and Defense. The founding of DHS marked a change in American thought towards threats. Introducing the term “homeland” centers attention on a population that needs to be protected not only against emergencies such as natural disasters but also against local threats.
DHS is composed of three overarching divisions:
- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). This division processes and examines citizenship, residency, and asylum requests from aliens
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). This is the law enforcement agency that patrols international borders (air, land, and sea), including enforcement of U.S. immigration, customs, and agriculture laws while patrolling at and between all U.S. ports-of-entry
- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This law enforcement agency is divided into two bureaus:
- Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), which gathers intelligence on national and international criminal activities that threaten the U.S. security. It is responsible for enforcing more than 400 laws
- Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), which enforces administrative violations of the Immigration and Nationality Act by detaining and deporting violators of U.S. immigration law
What Does the Department of Homeland Security Do?
DHS has a wide variety of functions from border security and immigration to securing cyberspace. The department articulates that its five main goals are focused on:
What Other Organizations Are Included Under DHS?
Some of the other agencies now under the DHS umbrella include:
- Transportation Security Administration (TSA) The TSA is responsible for aviation security (domestic and international; most visibly, by conducting passenger screenings at airports), as well as land and water transportation security
- U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) This is the military service responsible for water-based law enforcement (especially smuggling of drugs and other contraband), maritime security, national defense, and protection of natural resources
- U.S. Secret Service (USSS) The Secret Service has two missions: an investigative mission, to safeguard the payment and financial systems of the United States from a wide range of financial and electronic-based crime; and a protective mission, to ensure the safety of the President of the United States, the Vice President of the United States, their immediate families, and foreign heads of state
- Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) This is the law enforcement agency tasked with overseeing the federal government’s response to natural disasters like earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and forest fires
National Terrorism Advisory System
In 2011, DHS replaced the old Homeland Security Advisory System with a two-level National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS). The system has two types of advisories: alerts and bulletins. NTAS bulletins permit the Secretary to communicate critical terrorism information that is not necessarily indicative of a specific threat against the United States.
Alerts are issued when there is specific and credible evidence of a terrorist threat against the United States. Alerts have two levels: elevated and imminent. An elevated alert is issued when there is credible information about an attack but only general information about timing or a target. An imminent alert is issued when the threat is specific and approaching in the near term.
Overview of DHS Cybersecurity
One branch of DHS focuses on cybersecurity. This is the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA). DHS secretary Mayorkas recently outlined a vision for the Department’s cybersecurity efforts to confront the growing threat of cyber-attacks, including a series of 60-day ”sprints” to address gaps in cybersecurity.
The sprints have six focus areas: countering ransomware, protecting transportation and pipeline systems data, improving industrial control systems security, building international partnerships on cybersecurity, enhancing election security, and filling in open cybersecurity roles in the government.
The recent SolarWinds cybersecurity hack highlighted the need for the federal government to modernize its cybersecurity. The director of CISA previously acknowledged weaknesses in the government’s perimeter-focused intrusion detection system that proved incapable of stopping the breach, which compromised the networks of at least nine agencies and more than a hundred American companies. Efforts will be focused on improving threat detection, federal procurement, accelerating the federal government’s response to cyber incidents, and smoothing information sharing.
In addition to the series of 60-day sprints, CISA will focus on four ongoing priorities: (1) increasing the resilience of democratic institutions, including the integrity of elections, (2) improving protection of civilian federal government networks, (3) advancing a risk-based approach to supply chain security and exploring new technologies to increase resilience, and (4) preparing for strategic upcoming challenges and emerging technology such as the transition to new encryption algorithms.
Criticism of the Department of Homeland Security
Excess, waste, and ineffectiveness: DHS has long been dogged by persistent criticism over excessive bureaucracy, waste, ineffectiveness and lack of transparency. Congress estimates that the department has wasted roughly $15 billion in failed contracts (as of September 2008).
The department was blamed for up to $2 billion of waste and fraud after audits by the Government Accountability Office revealed widespread DHS employee misuse of government credit cards, with purchases including iPods ostensibly for use in “data storage,” kits for brewing beer, $70,000 of plastic dog booties that were later deemed unusable, and boats purchased at double the retail price (many of which later could not be found).
Employee morale: In July 2006, the Office of Personnel Management conducted a survey throughout all 36 federal agencies of employee job satisfaction and how they felt their respective agency was headed. DHS was last or near to last in every category including;
- 33rd on the “Talent Management” index
- 35th on the “Management Leadership and Knowledge” index
- 36th on the overall “Job Satisfaction” index
- 36th on the “Results-oriented Performance Culture” index
Should I Speak with an Attorney?
You may interact with DHS for a variety of reasons. For example, you may be applying for a visa or permanent residence; you may be planning to transport goods across international boundaries; you may have a cybersecurity breach in your website server; or you may come across information that suggests there will be an attack on U.S. citizens or companies.
Each of these issues can be quite complex. If you are going to be dealing with the DHS, you should speak to an immigration attorney (depending on the issue) so that your interests can be properly represented.
