Who Created The Department Of Homeland Security – Joseph I. Lieberman Joseph I. Lieberman Former United States Senator (I-CT), Senior Counsel – Kasowitz, Benson, Torres LLP @JoeLieberman
Twenty years after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) looks like one of the most important and effective government responses to the traumatic events of that day. While DHS has faced its share of challenges over the past two decades, the United States is much safer today because it is there. We have not had another terrorist attack on our homeland as large and deadly as 9/11, and most small attempts have been stopped.
Who Created The Department Of Homeland Security
As security threats to our nation have evolved, DHS has continued to adapt. For example, in recent years it has increased its focus on cyber threats and domestic terrorism. But DHS cannot diminish its original reason for being – to defend our homeland against foreign terrorist threats, especially in light of the recent US withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the likelihood that the possibility of terrorist attacks on the United States will increase.
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The Homeland Security Act, which established DHS, was signed into law by President Bush in November 2002, after a year of spirited debate and dialogue in Congress and with the Bush Administration. It was an honor to work closely with my Republican colleagues Fred Thompson and Susan Collins. While efforts to develop and pass the legislation were at times contentious, we were ultimately able to forge a major bipartisan compromise, no doubt facilitated by our shared concerns about the threat of additional terrorist attacks on the homeland. We came together to create the department, merging 22 existing agencies and subagencies from across the federal government and establishing new offices within DHS for intelligence coordination and investment in science and technology.
The new department was given responsibility not only for counterterrorism, but for a broader range of related homeland security missions, including border security, transportation security, disaster response and critical infrastructure protection.
As we worked on this legislation, we had no illusions about the challenges faced by DHS. It was the result of a complex merger. But due to the dangers of the nation, we are of the opinion that the reform was necessary. As I said during the Senate floor debate on the legislation:
“Building this department will involve no shortage of problems, as any massive undertaking of this kind would – but we, after this initial act of creation, must be prepared to improve, support and ultimately the American people with this department to protect. We have no choice.”
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DHS has certainly had its problems over the past two decades, some minor and others more serious, from jokes on late-night TV shows about the color-coded threat alert system, to the mismanaged response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, to operational challenges in 2005. Southwest Frontier in recent years. It also faced ongoing challenges with employee morale and developing a unified organizational culture across its operational elements, each of which brought its own separate history to DHS. Former DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano once told me that her goal was to have everyone at DHS speak the same language, even if with different accents. It seems to me that has happened now.
DHS has also led many successful initiatives that have improved our nation’s homeland security. We now have a robust system of screening and vetting at our borders and airports that make it much more difficult for foreign terrorists and other illegal actors to travel to the United States and attempt to carry out attacks or engage in criminal activity. We eliminated information-sharing barriers that hindered key federal, state and local agencies from sharing information about potential threats. We have stronger disaster response capabilities today, both at FEMA that was reformed after Hurricane Katrina and in our states and localities. And DHS has greatly matured its role in cybersecurity over the past 15 years, which led to bipartisan congressional support for the creation of the Cybersecurity and Information Security Agency at DHS in 2018.
Looking back at this two-decade track record, it is absolutely clear that it was the right decision to create DHS. Some have argued for dismantling DHS and redistributing its component agencies to other federal departments. That would be a terrible mistake that would undermine our security if threats to our homeland and deaths and diversity grow. If DHS did not exist today, Congress would undoubtedly create it.
For example, given the severity and impact of cyber threats, additional investment is needed to expand capabilities at CISA – CISA still accounts for only 2% of DHS’s total budget. More support is also needed at DHS to combat domestic terrorism threats, Jan. 6
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Attack on the US Capitol and other legal activities of left and right extremes. And it is likely that new threats and risks will emerge in the coming decade, driven by technological and societal changes, including bioterrorism stimulated by COVID-19. DHS must evolve to combat them.
But to reiterate, DHS cannot lose focus on its founding post 9/11 counterterrorism mission. The FBI has the primary investigative role for terrorism, but DHS has important counterterrorism responsibilities, including traveler screening and vetting, intelligence information sharing, aviation security, critical infrastructure protection, and the prevention, protection, and response to the use of weapons of mass destruction in the USA
The withdrawal of US military and intelligence assets from Afghanistan increases the importance of these homeland security responsibilities. As our capabilities to disrupt terrorist activity from Afghanistan decline dramatically, our defenses at home become far more important to disrupting and preventing attacks like the devastating ones on 9/11 that led to the creation of DHS.
DHS leaders can also help by looking for ways to develop bipartisan consensus on the department’s border and immigration mission.
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These are all challenges that DHS can begin to address in its Quadrennial Homeland Security Review, which is required by law to be delivered to Congress before the end of this year. And there should be active congressional oversight of DHS. Congress still needs to fix its own fragmented jurisdiction over DHS, which travels across more than a hundred committees and subcommittees. When it comes to homeland security, Congress has been effective at reforming everyone but itself. Seventeen years after the 9/11 Commission issued its report, this is still its only unimplemented recommendation.
Finally, it is critical that DHS leadership actively steer away from politics and partisanship, which obviously hurts the department’s ability to carry out its critical missions. The first four secretaries: Tom Ridge, Michael Chertoff, Janet Napolitano and Jeh Johnson – two Republicans and two Democrats – were very careful to avoid partisan activities. But that important norm has eroded during the Trump administration, fueling a much more polarized debate about border security, immigration, and counterterrorism and delegitimizing agencies within DHS like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) among the American people. Current and future DHS leaders must demonstrate through their actions that they reject the politicization of homeland security.
As we commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and remember those who lost their lives on that tragic day, we must appreciate the great strides we have made together across party lines to reform our government and to improve our homeland defense. And we must be grateful to the hundreds of thousands of men and women who have served with such effectiveness at DHS over the past two decades. There is no doubt that as a result, the American people at home have been better protected, and will continue to be, with continued bipartisan support from DHS.1 of 2| President Joe Biden speaks at the Department of Homeland Security’s 20th anniversary ceremony in Washington, Wednesday, March 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
2 of 2| President Joe Biden attends the Department of Homeland Security’s 20th anniversary ceremony in Washington, Wednesday, March 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
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President Joe Biden speaks at the Department of Homeland Security’s 20th anniversary ceremony in Washington, Wednesday, March 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
President Joe Biden attends the Department of Homeland Security’s 20th anniversary ceremony in Washington, Wednesday, March 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
WASHINGTON (AP) – A federal agency that was born on the afternoon of September 11, when the primary concern was to stop terrorists from entering the United States, is changing to meet new challenges, the secretary of homeland security said, as he celebrated his 20-year anniversary during a ceremony Wednesday.
Alejandro Mayorkas highlights emerging threats such as cyber security attacks and lone perpetrators radicalized online, but the Department of Homeland Security is perhaps most in the spotlight for its role in the country’s immigration debate.
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“We have adapted and built capabilities to address the threats and challenges as they have evolved,” Mayorkas told an audience gathered at the agency’s Washington headquarters. “We were created 20 years ago in the largest restructuring of the federal government since World War II. Now we are a critical part of people’s lives, interacting with the American people on a daily basis more than any other department or agency in the federal government.
Hundreds of people from all over the department – the third largest in the federal
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