| Agency Name: | United States Department of Homeland Security |
| Seal: | Seal of the United States Department of Homeland Security.svg |
| Picture Caption: | Headquarters of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in Washington D.C. |
| Jurisdiction: | U.S. federal government |
| Headquarters: | St. Elizabeths West Campus, Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Coordinates: | 38.8547°N -77°W |
| Employees: | 240,000 (2018) |
| Budget: | $51.672 billion (FY 2020)[1] |
| Chief1 Name: | Kristi Noem |
| Chief1 Position: | Secretary |
| Chief2 Name: | Benjamine Huffman |
| Chief2 Position: | Acting Deputy Secretary |
The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terrorism, border security, immigration and customs, cyber security, and disaster prevention and management.[2]
It began operations on March 1, 2003, after being formed as a result of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, enacted in response to the September 11 attacks. With more than 240,000 employees,[3] DHS is the third-largest Cabinet department, after the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs.[4] 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.
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.[5] 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. 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.[6]
| Original agency | Original department | New agency or office after transfer | |
|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Customs and Border Protection U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement | |||
| U.S. Customs and Border Protection U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services | |||
| Management Directorate | |||
| Transportation Security Administration | |||
| Treasury | Federal Law Enforcement Training Center | ||
| Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (part) | U.S. Customs and Border Protection | ||
| none | Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) | ||
| Originally assigned to FEMA, Returned to HHS, July 2004 | |||
| National Disaster Medical System | Health and Human Services | Originally assigned to FEMA, Returned to HHS, August 2006 | |
| Responsibilities distributed within FEMA | |||
| Justice | Responsibilities distributed within FEMA | ||
| Justice (FBI) | Responsibilities distributed within FEMA | ||
| CBRN Countermeasures Programs | Energy | Science & Technology Directorate | |
| Energy | Science & Technology Directorate | ||
| National Biological Warfare Defense Analysis Center | Science & Technology Directorate | ||
| Agriculture | Science & Technology Directorate | ||
| General Services Administration | US-CERT, Office of Cybersecurity and Communications National Programs and Preparedness Directorate (now CISA) | ||
| Defense | Office of Cybersecurity and Communications National Programs and Predaredness Directorate | ||
| Justice (FBI) | Office of Operations Coordination Office of Infrastructure Protection | ||
| Energy Security and Assurance Program | Energy | Office of Infrastructure Protection | |
| Transportation | U.S. Coast Guard | ||
| 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[7] 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.[8] The founding of the 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 diffuse threats from individuals who are non-native to the United States.[9]
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.[10] In 2002, Bush officials argued that the September 11 attacks made the proposed elimination of employee protections imperative.[11]
In an August 5, 2002, speech, President Bush said: "We are fighting ... to secure freedom in the homeland."[12] 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".[13] 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.
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".[11] 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.
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."[14]
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.[15] In fiscal year 2018, DHS was allocated a net discretionary budget of $47.716 billion.
In 2021, the Department of Justice began carrying out an investigation into white supremacy and extremism in the DHS ranks.[16]
DHS also halted large-scale immigration raids at job sites, saying in October 2021 that the administration was planning "a new enforcement strategy to more effectively target employers who pay substandard wages and engage in exploitative labor practices."[17]
In 2023, the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol began using an app which requires asylum seekers to submit biometric information before they enter the country.
In June 2024 John Boyd, the head of the DHS Office of Biometric Identity Management, announced at a conference that the agency "is looking into ways it might use facial recognition technology to track the identities of migrant children." According to Boyd, the initiative is intended to advance the development of facial recognition algorithms. A former DHS official said that every migrant processing center he visited engaged in biometric identity collection, and that children were not separated out during processing. DHS denied collecting the biometric data of children under 14.
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 stated goal is to prepare for, prevent, and respond to domestic emergencies, particularly terrorism.[18] On March 1, 2003, DHS absorbed the U.S. Customs Service and Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and assumed its duties. In doing so, it divided the enforcement and services functions into two separate and new agencies: Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Citizenship and Immigration Services. The investigative divisions and intelligence gathering units of the INS and Customs Service were merged forming Homeland Security Investigations, the primary investigative arm of DHS. Additionally, the border enforcement functions of the INS, including the U.S. Border Patrol, the U.S. Customs Service, and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service were consolidated into a new agency under DHS: U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The Federal Protective Service falls under the National Protection and Programs Directorate.