The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is a United States Federal Government cabinet department that is responsible for securing the public. The mission of DHS encompasses immigration and customs, fighting terrorism, cyber and border security, customs and immigration and prevention and management of the disaster. After the 9/11 terrorist attack, the government of the US passed the Patriot Act bill that was signed into law on October of the same year. The act called for the formation of the DHS, which is basically a police force. For the accomplishment of the main aim of the DHS, each state is tasked with creating its own Homeland Security Force, which coordinates with the federal force. The coordination makes it easy to share information and thwart terrorist attacks before they take place.
DHS has a leadership structure that is unique. On the top, there is a secretary who is an appointee of the US president. Under the secretary falls the deputy and is on top of the various agencies that form this department. Various divisions of the Homeland Security follow, an issue which has made it face a lot of criticism on top of the policies and operations it undertakes. The leadership has been primarily blamed for the issues that concern the effectiveness of the DHS. The bureaucratic nature of the department’s operations has also been highly criticized with a majority of people perceiving it as a waste of public resources. The criticism was triggered after the audits of the department revealed major flaws and waste occurring within the department. The fragmented oversight by the Congress has rendered the department’s management challenging, with numerous committees and all of them claiming their jurisdiction to oversee the Department’s activities. It has been suggested that these committees be compressed to have a few bodies overseeing DHS so that the bureaucratic constraint they posed is curbed as well as boosting its effectiveness.
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Whereas it is the responsibility of Department of Defense to take care of military actions abroad, DHS works in the civilians’ world to offer protection to the United States within its borders, and outside it. DHS absorbed the Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) and assumed its duties accordingly. The move made the department divide the Enforcement and Services function into two new and distinct agencies. These are the Citizenship and Immigration Service and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. INS had investigative divisions and units of intelligence gathering as well as Customs service that were merged to form Homeland Security Investigations.
To accomplish the task of fighting terrorism, the DHS employs various data gathering methods that are considered controversial at both federal at the state level. The Patriot Act broadened the government’s surveillance abilities. It became possible to look at an individual’s activity records that may be held by third parties. The government is warranted to conduct searches without the knowledge or consent of the owner. The Act also expanded the Fourth Amendment’s narrow perception that limited foreign information gathering and the ability of the information to be used in the US. The most controversial method of them is the “tap and trace” searches which permit the government to not only to collect but also address information and communication from the origin to its destination. While the original intent of the department was protecting citizens by identifying terrorists and thwarting their attack, the department has undoubtedly been infringing on the civil liberties of the citizens in the process. This makes Americans question the much freedom they have to give up to be protected from terror. Besides. The public has repeatedly been questioning the DHS’s costs versus benefits. While many argue that security is priceless, Homeland Security has a knowable and real cost. The department’s annual budget ranks in billions with its fiscal year 2017 budgetary allocation soaring up to $40.6 billion. This comes at a time when Americans are in a financial crisis struggling to afford basic needs. Americans continue to question if the department strives to keep them safe or strains the federal budget. This is on top of engaging over 240,000 employees. The department is the third largest after Defense and Veterans Affairs.
Among the functions effectively performed by DHS is securing the US borders by use of new technologies such as sensors, radar, and aerial assets. Without DHS’s border patrol, the border security would be wanting. The United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the largest agency of Homeland Security. Its functions are regulation and facilitation of international trade, the collection of import duties, and enforcement of regulations in the U.S., including customs, immigration, and trade. Its workforce comprises of over 45,600 sworn officers and federal agents. DHS ensures that the desolate areas and borders are free from drugs, movement of illegal weapons, contraband as well as people. It also promotes lawful travel and trade while ensuring that national sovereignty and economic prosperity is safeguarded. The fact that 7,000 miles of land at the US border is shared with Mexico and Canada makes the borders important economic getaways accounting for huge incomes in travel and trade annually.
In conclusion, it is after the 9/11 attack that the DHS was conceived. It has since undergone numerous changes in structure as well as its roles enhanced. While its mission is reducing the vulnerability of the U.S to terrorism amongst other threats, it has constantly been subjected to criticism due to the controversial issues that have marred it. These includes its effectiveness, bureaucracy, infringing on personal freedom and huge expenditure. However, it is because of the intelligence initiative of DHS, that aversion of the different threats to national security have been possible.
