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

DHS has used its authorities in ways that have eroded already weak trust among swaths of the American population, particularly among marginalized communities. By fully realizing the role envisioned for the secretary of DHS in Homeland Security Presidential Directive 5enhancing the ability of the United States to manage domestic incidents by establishing a single comprehensive national incident management system68as the principal federal official for domestic incident management, DHS can serve as a force multiplier for the rest of the federal government and use its institutional memory to improve Americas resilience to anything that humankind or nature throws its way. It is critical to consider the following questions: What should be the primary focus of the department? 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. DHS should reduce its counterterrorism investigative and intelligence analysis activities, as described below, and focus its efforts where it has unique responsibilities and authorities: managing the border, countering disinformation, countering violent white supremacy, and investing in evidence-based prevention approaches. To maximize its value and effectiveness in today's environment, DHS should organizeand articulate its missionaround a balanced set of activities that prioritize safety and services roles more. Likewise, the merging of the OFO and the Border Patrol would help to ensure effective border management that does more to help border communities, businesses, families, visitors, and those seeking refuge here, even as it continues to ensure a secure border. After looking at each homeland security organizational structure, a number of recommendations were made that could benefit each entity. Even more so, the Border Patrol has a significant deficit of trust to make up in border communities, which in turn has led to morale issues within the rank and file and resistance to policy changes.72. It recommends that DHS adopt a new safety and services model, outlined above, that increases its emphasis on connecting, communicating, facilitating, welcoming, and helping, while simultaneously recalibrating its focus on external threats by bringing its emphasis on protecting, securing, preventing, and enforcing into better balance with its other priorities. Whether leading the federal response or coordinating other federal players, local governments, and nongovernmental organizations, the United States needs an agency charged with emergency preparedness and response capabilities that serves as the lead coordinator of U.S. government emergency preparedness and response efforts on the wide range of emergencies that affect the country. When disaster strikes, FEMA is oftenthough not often enoughthe nations first responder. A list of senior leaders at the Department. Recalibrating the DHS mission would empower the agency and its workforce to play a more effective role in the federal bureaucracy. But there is no agency that currently leads the federal governments efforts at the national level to share information, advocate for greater government transparency, or develop new communications capacities that add value to the American people. This study makes the case that DHS should be more active in the areas where it is the most effective player within the federal bureaucracy and less so where its efforts are duplicative of other agencies. 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. Since no part of Congress authorizes the entire departmentwide functions, DHSs appropriators have largely become the subcommittees of de facto jurisdiction over the department. Contract Administration - Brian Bond, Director. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS Altering an organization's structure requires careful planning, but it can prove the greatest driver of success. Abolishing DHS and returning its components to where they came from is neither politically feasible nor wise, and giving DHS more resources and responsibility without substantive changes will do little to fix the departments underlying problems. 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. Operational and Support Components A list of all Operational and Support Components that make up DHS. Johan Hassel, Kate Donald, Laura Kilbury, 1 More Homeland Security Investigations. A well-managed border will be safe and secure while also efficiently offering different services needed to travel, trade, or seek asylum in the United States. DHS could also develop better warning and prediction systems that enable a more proactive federal response and assistance presence. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. We are sincerely thankful for their support. Consistent with this emphasisand with the affirmative vision that CAP previously put forth of a more fair, humane, and workable immigration system that would rebalance immigration enforcementICE is primarily a law enforcement agency, and as such its responsibilities should be transferred out of DHS.87. ] DHS already plays an important role connecting federal entities and officials to their state, local, tribal, and territorial counterparts and has had success coordinating security and resilience efforts across the private and public sectors through Joint Terrorism Task Forces and other mechanisms. The organizational chart for DHS suggests that the secretary and deputy secretary are responsible for overseeing 23 separate bureaus and agencies ranging in size from the Office of Public Affairs to the entire U.S. Coast Guard to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which has 65,000 employees.41 Yet the resources for the secretary of DHS pale in comparison to those of other federal agencies: The State Departments Office of the Secretary had some $57 million for FY 2019 and 75 employees to oversee a bureaucracy of 70,000 personnel while DHSs had just $19 million for FY 2018 and 68 employees for a bureaucracy of 240,000.42 Studies by the Atlantic Council and the CNAS recently proposed the creation of an associate secretary position to improve coordination and management at the highest levels of the department.43 While more bureaucracy is not always the answer, the current secretarys office does not have the personnel, resources, or authority to effectively lead a department of DHSs size today. While the Coast Guard plays an important role in maritime security and maritime law enforcement efforts, it is also responsible forand takes great pride insearch and rescue and disaster relief efforts. A more ambitious approach would involve making the protection of personal information and privacy a core DHS mission, assigning DHS the lead federal agency for protecting the privacy of U.S. persons information. DHS is committed to protecting and promoting the health and safety of the people of Wisconsin, making sure everyone can live their best life. DHS should prioritize service and partnerships, connecting people in the United States to federal services and providing value to the American people and those who live, study, work, travel, or seek safety here. At a minimum, your org structure should include employees' titles and basic hierarchies. hbbd``b`Z $mA7`9$~b`bdr Atlantic Council, Former and Acting Secretaries of Homeland Security sign open letter on consolidating congressional jurisdiction over DHS., Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986, Public Law 433, 99th Congress, 2nd sess. Tackling Climate Change and Environmental Injustice, A New Framework for DHS To Meet Todays Challenges, The positions of American Progress, and our policy experts, are independent, and the findings and conclusions presented are those of American Progress alone. Katrina Mulligan is the acting vice president for National Security and International Policy at the Center. Close collaboration with civil society groups will be key to ensuring these rights are respected. VDSS Organizational Structure VDSS consists of: Home Office in Richmond Virginia, which houses its Divisions and Program Areas Five Regional Offices which oversee and support community and local organizations Division of Child Support Enforcement (DCSE) District Offices Licensing Offices Organizational Structure Report In doing so, DHS can uniquely enlist the private sector and the American people in protecting the nation. Xs~_7^{$}UAe5u)haU8vP6179kqZ>95[6No4%OcE6:&v+ yz Choosing to focus DHSs prevention efforts where it can make unique contributions does not compromise U.S. security but rather helps ensure that the federal response is well coordinated and not duplicative. Alexandra Schmitt is a senior policy analyst on the National Security and International Policy team at the Center. He began his career as a district adjudications officer before transitioning to deportation officer with the former U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), and he was a member of one of ICE's first fugitive operations teams and an instructor at the ICE Academy. While the department still has an important role to play in preventing attacks against the United States from abroad, it is time to refine the departments mission and priorities to ensure that they fit current needs. 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. It would also enable DHS to further build partnerships between the federal government and counterparts in state and local government and the private sector, if properly managed with safeguards to protect civil liberties and privacy. DHSs role in countering terrorism and domestic extremism has never been clear or without controversy. These efforts have been at some times political and at other times reactive rather than grounded in a clear articulation of DHSs role within the federal bureaucracy. Because it is not the originator of most of the threat information it obtains, it has a limited ability to unilaterally disclose that information to the public, even when it may desire to do so. Instead, DHS should strategically recalibrate its priorities around a safety and services model rather than a threat-oriented modelwhich, in its current incarnation, is primarily concerned with counterterrorism and immigration enforcement, with communities of color, immigrants, and refugees treated as threats. 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. It is time to reimagine what it means to keep America safe, secure, and prosperous in todays world and to recalibrate the priorities of the department charged with doing so. Attachment(s): A full list of supporters is available here. Finally, this report proposes near- and longer-term steps that the current administration could take to realize this vision and deliver better value for the American people. Who we serve It should invest its unique capacity to analyze and contextualize threats to land, sea, and air borders and ports of entry and to deliver intelligence to state, local, tribal, and territorial partners. Leadership Director Congressional Relations Diversity and Civil Rights Firearms and Tactical Programs Immigration Program Evaluation Partnership and Engagement Regulatory Affairs and Policy Public Affairs Deputy Director Chief of Staff Directorates Carrie Cordero from the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) has written extensively on the need for enhanced oversight and accountability to address the growth in size and scope of DHSs activities.32 As Cordero argued, there is a persistent mismatch between DHSs foundational statutory mission and its day-to-day operations. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Threat Assessment (Washington: 2020), available at https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/2020_10_06_homeland-threat-assessment.pdf. He is responsible for overseeing the organization's contracting functions with a focus on integrity and positive impact. 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. FEMA declared an emergency and allowed Texans to apply for federal assistance for storm recovery,71 but a more proactive responsewith better cooperation at the state and local levelmight have prevented such severe destruction from occurring in the first place. endstream endobj startxref USCIS United States Coast Guard (USCG) USCG is the only military organization within DHS and protects the maritime economy and the environment, defends our maritime borders, and saves those at risk. 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. These dangers will require DHS to step up its efforts in areas that have not been its primary focus, prioritizing its missions differently than it has over the past two decades. 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. It also identifies opportunities to reform the factors that hinder DHS from being maximally effective in providing value to the nation. ICE, which views itself as essential law enforcement partners,79 enforces immigration laws and combats transnational crime, a mission that overlaps with that of the DOJ. It determines the place and the role of each employee in the business, and is key to organizational development. The FPS protects federal facilities, their occupants, and visitors by providing law enforcement and protective security services. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Critical Infrastructure Sectors, available at, KHOU 11, Gov. Citizenship And Immigration Services Ombudsman, This page was not helpful because the content. Components such as the Coast Guard, the TSA, and CBP have narrow law enforcement roles that are directly tied to safety and security missions. Without strengthened protections and an ethos committed to protecting all Americans equally, such sharing may do more harm than good. As DHS approaches its 20-year mark, the United States has an opportunity to redefine the departments value proposition for the future and to better align DHSs structure and activities with its mission. !f1!Belqe0-{eQ%!Fq\\O!CaOL9'tMf1lPEM>HsU ^4!ha.p5Gu+24r3eG~u!P A=hu3~>i8o5 B@bVBiKdY)VY;V!8a&6 e.b*T Successive administrations have continued to interpret DHSs mission as primarily focused on protecting the homeland from threats from abroad. We are determined to keep interruptions to our operations to a minimum, and we appreciate your patience during this time. It has also faced ongoing challenges with employee morale and developing a united organizational culture across its operational elements, each of which brought its separate history to DHS. About. `~d2*i)-zX 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. In an era of increased movement of people and goods across borders, we need a DHS that prioritizes the rule of law, and one that protects all Americans as well as everyone who comes to live, study, work, travel, and seek safety here. The muddled intelligence mission and an expansive set of authorities present a worrying combination that has led to abusive activities and human rights violations. DHS should play a leading role in responding to all emergencies that threaten the safety and security of Americans, even when the response will rely heavily upon expertise housed in other federal departmentssuch as the Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) expertise that is critical to the pandemic responseor at the state level. There are 16 critical infrastructure sectors whose assets, systems, and networks, whether physical or virtual, are considered so vital to the United States that their incapacitation or destruction would have a debilitating effect on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any . All subordinate Components must abide by the organizational structure outlined herein. DHSs complicated web of roles and responsibilities also means that it plays a supporting role nearly everywhere but rarely leads. 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. Border Patrol agents, for example, would be focused on addressing border issues rather than being deployed in places such as Portland as Federal Protective Service (FPS) personnel. To maximize its value and effectiveness in todays environment, DHS should organizeand articulate its missionaround a balanced set of activities that prioritize safety and services roles more fully with DHSs other protecting, securing, and defending roles DHS should dial up, or increase, its strategic focus in the following areas: DHS should dial down its strategic focus in the following areas, bringing them into balance with its other priorities: To make the case for reform, this report first outlines the legacy of DHSs hasty founding and how past attempts to reform DHS have failed to reorient the department away from a disproportionate focus on foreign threats. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. But meaningful change will also require headquarters-level prioritization and the establishment of new internal incentives to drive CBPs cultural evolution. But the prevention mission must focus on the increasing prevalence of domestic challenges and borderless threats, including white supremacist-fueled domestic extremism, natural disasters, and cyberattacks, as well as external threats. CAP conducted a qualitative study and review of DHS informed by discussions with more than 35 stakeholdersincluding former and current government officials, policy experts, and civil society membersfrom November 2020 to May 2021. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, enacted in December 2004, established the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to lead intelligence integration across the 17 components that make up the U.S. intelligence community (IC). 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