what is the organizational structure of dhswhat is the organizational structure of dhs

var subscribe = document.getElementById('enSubscribeFooter'); ET, Twitter, available at, These sectors include the chemical sector; commercial facilities; communications; critical manufacturing; dams; defense industrial base; emergency services; energy; financial services; food and agriculture; government facilities; health care and public health; information technology; nuclear records; materials and waste; transportation systems; and water and wastewater systems. In recommending this shift, CAP acknowledges that threats to Americans safety and security will continue to require a strong and coordinated response from DHS. Observers across the political spectrum have argued that, in the rush to stand up a new department, disparate components of the federal bureaucracy were shoe-horned into DHS, with mixed results.6 Todays DHS claims a role in most national security issuesand a number of issues that fall outside of national securitybut there are few areas where DHS leads the governments response and even fewer where it does so well and without controversy. DHS already plays a pivotal role in connecting nonfederal officials with their counterparts in the federal system and serves as the primary connection between state, local, tribal, and territorial officials and the federal government and its resources, as well as between the private and public sectors, including civil society organizations. HW]o6}7@`s! CAP concludes that DHS components that are primarily or exclusively focused on enforcing federal laws do not belong in a reimagined DHS and should be transferred to other federal departments. As discussed above, broad interpretation of DHS authorities by former department officials has led to questionable activities and occasions of abuse or violations, particularly in the immigration space.75 One example of these broad authorities occurred when the Trump administration deployed DHS officials to respond to protests in Portland, Oregon, where the administration stretched legal authorities to justify activities that harmed the public that DHS is supposed to serve. In the future, DHS should continue to play a growing role in communicating with the American public about threats, dispelling disinformation, and serving as a reliable source of information. We at U.S. DHSs role should also be carefully calibrated to focus where the department is best positioned relative to other agencies, such as at the borders and ports of entry, and to enable effective information sharing with the other relevant federal players. The combination of DHSs hasty founding, its expansive authorities, and its at once decentralized nature and yet lack of institutional independence from the executive branch has left the department susceptible to presidents using DHS and its expansive authorities for political purposes. Future enforcement activities need to be balanced within broader department goals of safety and service and focused exclusively where DHS is the lead actor rather than in areas in which other federal agenciessuch as, for example, the DOJplay a leading role. Learn about our sister organization, the Center for American Progress Action Fund, an advocacy organization dedicated to improving the lives of all Americans. While the study does not make specific recommendations on the structure of DHS, this report proposes a framework that has implications for restructuring and recommends the DHS secretary and Congress realign the components of DHS around that framework. And there is no other department with the mandate and track record of playing a bridging role between state, local, tribal, and territorial officials and the federal government. Some believe that long-standing foundational problems have inhibited DHSs effectiveness as its missions and focus have expanded and morphed. This approach should apply for other national incidents and emergencies as well. The department has five divisions: Behavioral Health, Children and Family Services, Developmental Disabilities, Medicaid and Long-Term Care and Public Health. The departments threat-oriented roles will, of course, remain, but this new framework will help DHS realign its focus and priorities on those areas where it can be maximally effective and provide value to the American people and those who live, study, work, travel, and seek safety here. DHSs development of programs that facilitate customer interactionssuch as TSA Precheck and Global Entry, which facilitate quicker screening at airports for U.S. domestic and international flightsare innovations that provide better services and security.64 The department must also clearly delimit its own power over travelers, visitors, and residents by prohibiting implementation of past problematic programs such as the NSEERS and Secure Communities.65, To put America on the strongest foundation, DHS should emphasize its unique role in welcoming the people who visit, immigrate to, or seek refuge in the United States. All subordinate Components must abide by the organizational structure outlined herein. Moreover, a dedicated, proactive focus on helping the public may provide a useful shift in DHSs public perceptionsomething sorely needed after the enforcement-heavy reputation it acquired during the Trump administration. Renewing the DHS workforce also is critical to the departments long-term success. There is no other department better suited to coordinate effective federal emergency response; communicate threat information between the public and private sectors; provide a working, humane approach to border management; facilitate an integrated cybersecurity and infrastructure capacity; and implement effective approaches to counter the threats from domestic extremism fueled by white supremacy and the rise of anti-government militias. This initiative would be part of efforts to develop a pipeline of leaders, encourage creativity and innovation, and drive a cultural shift within the department toward its new service-oriented framework. As the department expands what it means to keep the nation secure, DHS should reimagine its role in protecting personal information and privacy. This fractured structure makes it nearly impossible for DHS headquarters leaders to manage the department effectively or efficiently.36 CAP has joined the Atlantic Council and the CNAS in calling for consolidated oversight of DHS.37 In addition, six former secretaries and acting secretaries of homeland security recently signed a letter to congressional leadership calling for the House and Senate to consolidate congressional oversight of DHS in a single authorizing committeeas is done for other departments such as the Department of Defense.38 A more streamlined structure under one authorizing and one appropriating committeesuch as that governing the Pentagon post-Goldwater-Nichols reform, where oversight was centralized under the Armed Services committeeswould allow lawmakers to more effectively oversee the broad range of the departments activities and ensure they are properly balanced against the agencys overall priorities.39 The recent memorandum of understanding announced by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is a welcome step toward improving oversight coordination among the various committees that have jurisdiction over DHS, but more work is needed to centralize authority under the Committee on Homeland Security in the House and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs in the Senate.40. DHS regularly interacts withand collects information onAmericans and U.S. persons in the routine course of its duties. Moving forward, DHS should ensure that all agencies charged with transportation security and infrastructure maintenanceincluding the TSA but also the Coast Guard and CBPare charged with delivering safety and security to customers and contributing to the nations economic prosperity. Next, the report reimagines what it means to keep America secure in todays world and provides a new framework for rebalancing the departments focus toward new and emerging needs. False and damaging disinformation about the security of the 2020 general election caused millions of Americans to question the election results and led to a violent attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. var onSuccessSubmitenSubscribeFooter = function() { Since no part of Congress authorizes the entire departmentwide functions, DHSs appropriators have largely become the subcommittees of de facto jurisdiction over the department. See the organizational chart for the Department of Homeland Security. Together, these efforts produced the most significant government reorganization since the National Security Act of 1947. DHSs Trusted Traveler programs are good examples of what DHS can do when it focuses on providing services and delivering real value to Americans and those traveling to the United States. Others believe DHS is absent today and falls short in serving Americans safety and security needs. The . 2825, the Department of Homeland Security Authorization Act of 2017, which sought to reauthorize DHS for the first time since its creation.18 More recently in 2020, several House Democrats introduced H.R. This means, for example, dialing up DHSs focus on disaster relief and cybersecurity and dialing down its law enforcement focus, particularly where other government agencies have or should have primary responsibility. Eleven days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, then-Pennsylvania Gov. endstream endobj 697 0 obj <>/Metadata 35 0 R/OCProperties<>/OCGs[702 0 R]>>/PageLabels 692 0 R/PageLayout/OneColumn/Pages 694 0 R/PieceInfo<>>>/StructTreeRoot 49 0 R/Type/Catalog>> endobj 698 0 obj <>/Font<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text]>>/Rotate 0/StructParents 0/Tabs/S/Type/Page>> endobj 699 0 obj <>stream A limited law and immigration enforcement role would focus DHS enforcement activities only on areas where they assist the support and services model and where other federal agencies and bureaucracies do not have a leading role to play. DHS also plays a critical role in adjudicating immigration benefits and promoting naturalization, which are the primary functions of USCIS. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Establishing the protection of civil liberties and privacy as a core DHS mission would fill a critical gap in executive branch roles that is not currently being comprehensively addressed by other departments and agencies. With the premise that DHS should recalibrate toward a safety and services model, and that DHS should focus on the things that it is best capable of doing, this study distinguishes between two types of law enforcement functions: law enforcement functions that enable a safety and services model to operate and those for which law enforcement is the primary focus. Department of Homeland Security Organizational Chart, available at, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, FY 2020 Budget in Brief (Washington: 2020), available at, Warrick and Durkovich, Future of DHS Project; Cordero, Reforming the Department of Homeland Security Through Enhanced Oversight & Accountability., Partnership for Public Service, Best Places to Work Agency Rankings (Washington: 2021), available at, Manny Fernandez and others, People Actively Hate Us: Inside the Border Patrols Morale Crisis,, Tal Kopan, Trumps executive orders dramatically expand power of immigration officers, CNN, January 28, 2017, available at, Paul J. Angelo, Why Central American Migrants Are Arriving at the U.S. Border (Washington: Council on Foreign Relations, 2021), available at, Anneliese Hermann, Asylum in the Trump Era: The Quiet Dismantling of National and International Norms (Washington: Center for American Progress, 2018), available at, Center for Migration Studies, President Bidens Executive Action on immigration, available at, Bill Whitaker, SolarWinds: How Russian Spies Hacked the Justice, State, Treasury, Energy, and Commerce Departments, CBS News, February 14, 2021, available at, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, About CISA, available at. The United States needs a proactive emergency preparedness and resilience capacity and a flexible and capable response system that can respond to a wide range of emergencies quickly and efficiently. FEMA recently covered DHS logos on vehicles used for vaccine distribution after concerns that the urban community it was targeting would refuse services from the department.69. Joel Martinez is the Mexico policy analyst for National Security and International Policy at the Center. if(subscribe.checkValidity()) { By investing in its role to connect with federal, state, and local partners and with the private sector and civil society, DHS can add unique value to the nation, managing risk while also ensuring economic prosperity and upholding American values. It will also put the department and its workforce in a better position to focus on the needs that only DHS can meet given its flexible authorities and unique capacity to respond to a range of issues that fall between the gaps of responsibilities of other federal departments and agencies. A member of the IC, it is charged statutorily with delivering intelligence to state, local, tribal, and territorial officials, as well as private sector partners, and with developing intelligence from those partners for DHS and the IC.20 The under secretary of I&A is also the chief intelligence officer of the department, overseeing the intelligence activities of the various DHS component agencies. or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. DHS should maintain its core objective of securely, efficiently, humanely managing our air, land, and maritime borders. Recalibrating the DHS mission would empower the agency and its workforce to play a more effective role in the federal bureaucracy. DHS still has an important role to play in preventing attacks against the United States and Americans at home and abroad. Seizing the opportunity to reimagine what it means to keep America secure and recalibrate DHSs priorities accordingly would enable the department to refocus its efforts in areas where it can add unique value and ensure that the government fulfills its responsibility to guarantee the safety, security, and prosperity of all Americans and those who come to live, study, work, travel, and seek safety here. And how can DHS provide value to the American people and those who visit or seek safety or opportunity here? Organizational structures describe what employees do, whom they report to, and how decisions are made across the business. Then, the Biden administration and Congress should work together to realign DHSs resources to support these strategic priorities and ensure they are carried out consistently with annual authorization legislation. 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