See U.S. Agency for Global Media, Legislation: Facts About Smith-Mundt Modernization, available at, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Statement from CISA Director Krebs Following Final Day of Voting, Press release, November 4, 2020, available at, AllOnGeorgia, TSA Touting Success: 10 Million Pre-Check Enrollees, March 9, 2020, available at, American Civil Liberties Union, National Security Entry-Exit Registration System; American Civil Liberties Union, Secure Communities (S-COMM); Aarti Kohli, Peter L. Markowitz, and Lisa Chavez, Secure Communities by the Numbers: An Analysis of Demographics and Due Process (Berkeley, CA: University of California, Berkeley Law School, 2011), available at, American Immigration Lawyers Association, Walled Off: How USCIS Has Closed Its Doors on Customers and Strayed from Its Statutory Customer Service Mission, February 12, 2021, available at, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Trade, available at, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Presidential Directive 5, available at, Lisa Fernandez, @ljfernandez, February 19, 2021, 3:45 p.m. This helping mission would also naturally fit with DHSs existing role as a connector between federal resources and state and local authorities, which must work closely together during disaster management response and relief efforts. A. Both FPS and ICE perform primarily law enforcement functions that do not enable other safety and services functions within DHS to operate. It screens and vets travelers, interacts with asylum-seekers and aspiring citizens, provides emergency support during natural and human-made disasters, and performs certain law enforcement functionseach of which results in the collection and retention of information on U.S. persons. CBP focuses on keeping terrorists and their weapons out of the United States while facilitating lawful travel and trade. Official websites use .gov In too many instances, DHS has pursued policies absent an articulated legal foundation, with disastrous results, including: DHS personnel acting as domestic law enforcement in response to peaceful protests in Portland, Oregon; ICE arresting a survivor of domestic abuse seeking a protective order in a courthouse; and the U.S. Border Patrol stopping a 10-year-old girl in an ambulance on her way to emergency surgery.33 Others, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), have documented serious abuses and overreach by DHS officials, particularly at U.S. borders and in immigration enforcement operations.34 It is difficult to overstate the harm that the Border Patrol and ICE have caused to relationships with communities and local officials across the country.35, About 90 committees and subcommittees have jurisdiction over DHSs planning, policies, and budgetseach focused on a small piece of the department rather than the entire homeland security operational matrix. CBP, under DHS, is charged with functions that range from countering terrorism, securing the border, and facilitating trade and travel. Seizing the opportunity to bring DHSs purpose into focus and recalibrate the departments priorities could also result in a department that fills critical gaps in the current federal bureaucracy. Secretary Deputy Secretary Chief of Staff Immediate Office of the Secretary (IOS) Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs (IEA) Office of the Secretary Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration (ASA) A list of senior leaders at the Department. Homeland Security Investigations. Reform of the agencyand decisions about its future size and scope of responsibilitiesshould begin not with a catalog of DHSs deficiencies but rather with an analysis of Americas homeland security needs. I&A reportedly compiled dossiers on journalists covering the 2020 protests in Oregon, under a theory of expanded intelligence activities that DHS lawyers argued were necessary to mitigate the significant threat to homeland security that such activites posed.21 DHS has also ramped up the collection and retention of expanded categories of records during customs and immigration processing, including the collection of data on U.S. persons. !6nuM)CtW$okCLzOiR$F&Ar,>7Om0h@8n8jV(OG)n*YGdDvKL~&7;9 {;1g\w0cwo#4)LaN|q.:-X2 `-5 cL`&@[;`A*|^4vc9ZZA\(cGPZ|xFar+f3lrt-c7&:~3-Ua`QKW. Recent examples include DHSs yearslong battle with the DOJ over which agency has the lead for transnational organized crime; tensions with the FBI and the IC over foreign influence and election interference roles and responsibilities;57 turf battles over cybersecurity jurisdiction between DHSs CISA and the National Security Agency;58 and persistent questions about the focus and utility of DHSs intelligence unit. hbbd``b`Z $mA7`9$~b`bdr An organizational structure is a hierarchical outline of a company's roles, teams, and employees. DHS has the potential to meet todays moment. But the benefits of removing these problematic entities would be well worth the cost in bureaucratic coordination and would help move toward significant reforms in the immigration system that are long overdue. At the same time, DHS must do a better job of ensuring that its programs are not discriminatory and including serious guardrails for civil liberties to prevent bias-based activities, such as its past targeting of Muslims and other communities of color. Secretary of Homeland Security: 1. Finally, I&A should develop intelligence from those partners to share with the rest of the IC, within the appropriate guardrails of civil liberties and privacy protections against stereotypes and biased profiling. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Recalibrating the DHS mission would empower the agency and its workforce to play a more effective role in the federal bureaucracy. Renewing the DHS workforce also is critical to the departments long-term success. 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. 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. 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. The . Working as the Nations risk advisor, the CISA partners with the private and public sectors to defend against threats and build more secure and resilient infrastructure for the future.61 DHS should scale efforts being led by the CISA to prioritize partnership with stakeholders across its missions and priorities. hb```b``f% cf`apeXbh`xIIQXsr`Sd` Q 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. A full list of supporters is available, Taking Migration Seriously: Real Solutions to Complex Challenges at the Border, 3 Things to Know Now that President Biden Has Canceled At Least $10,000 in Student Debt, Rising Anti-China Sentiment in South Korea Offers Opportunities To Strengthen US-ROK Relations, Why the United States Must Stay the Course on Ukraine, Paid Leave Policies Must Include Chosen Family, The Killing of Tyre Nichols Must Serve as a Catalyst to Root Out Racial Injustice in Policing, 5 Ways Governors and Mayors Can Leverage Federal Investments. And how can DHS provide value to the American people and those who visit or seek safety or opportunity here? Cybersecurity now demands a whole-of-government solution to protect national security, critical infrastructure, intellectual property, and sensitive personal information. As part of reform efforts in 2006 after DHSs failed response to Hurricane Katrina, the Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) was established as an intelligence entity within DHS that would inform department operations and connect it to other federal intelligence efforts. Om//~0V#j&I."R!,rP_fnme0KE(BG If policymakers want to improve the work of DHS, they must start with a focus on todays homeland security needs, defining the departments role and identifying what value it should provide today. This includes border management issues, where the focus should be more on facilitating safe and secure travel and commerce to ensure that businesses get the goods and workers they need, visitors are able to travel safely and efficiently, and families can be reunited more quickly. A change in policies alone will not achieve the goal of building a fair, humane, and workable immigration system. Who we serve Or it might mean partnering with technology companies to thwart domestic extremist messaging on online platforms. 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. DHS was formally established as a stand-alone, Cabinet-level department on March 1, 2003, bringing 22 federal agencies under one umbrella to coordinate efforts to secure the homeland. We are determined to keep interruptions to our operations to a minimum, and we appreciate your patience during this time. Border Security CBP and the TSA are primarily focused on enabling the safe and secure movement of goods and people and have narrow law enforcement roles that enable these primary missions. When disaster strikes, FEMA is oftenthough not often enoughthe nations first responder. Successive reform efforts and the use of DHS to advance partisan political objectives have led to sharp swings in the departments headquarters-level focus. if(subscribe.checkValidity()) { Most notably, DHSs vetting activitiesincluding the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS), viewed by many as a Muslim registry29have faced persistent claims of religious and racial bias. 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). Beyond the information the department collects and retains, DHS also has an important role to play in safeguarding the security of personal or private information from malicious cyberactors and foreign governments. subscribe.submit(); or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. DHS also plays a critical role in adjudicating immigration benefits and promoting naturalization, which are the primary functions of USCIS. dataLayer.push({"event": "signup_submit", "form_detail":"enSubscribeFooter"}); The goal of this report is to provide a vision for what a revitalized DHS could achieve for Americans and those who visit or seek safety or opportunity here. DHS also suffers from low employee morale and poor satisfaction among its workforce: It ranked dead last among U.S. federal agencies in the most recent survey conducted by the Partnership for Public Service and has consistently been at the bottom of the list since 2010.44 While there are many reasons for low employee morale at DHS, the workforce culture is especially toxic within certain agencies that have overly politicized activities.45 ICE and the Border Patrol under the Trump administration, for example, focused on maximizing arrests and deportations with few limits on the targets for enforcement actions or the methods they would employthe clearest example being the Trump administrations cruel family separation policy.46 Personnel asked to pursue these political objectivesmost of whom are career public servantshave been required to perform deeply unpopular enforcement tasks that have not advanced sensible law enforcement or public safety priorities and have subjected them to sharp public criticism. HW]o6}7@`s! Field offices that manage disaster response and recovery in disaster locations. 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. CAP believes that DHS should take a broader view of what it means to keep the nation secure. What Is an Organizational Structure? DHS lacks those bureaucratic guardrails, and the consequences of weak constraints on DHS became particularly clear during the Trump administration. (October 1, 1986), available at, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Pelosi Announces Agreement on Committee Jurisdiction Regarding Department of Homeland Security., Scott Shuchart, Building Meaningful Civil Rights and Liberties Oversight at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (Washington: Center for American Progress, 2019), available at. This will also help reduce DHSs involvement in activities better left to other federal agencies that have more appropriate authorities, experience, and workforces, while ensuring that Americas security needs continue to be addressed by the federal government. Skip to main content. DHS should work toward expanding existing capacity and investing in new, flexible headquarters and regional capabilities that can address a wide range of emergencies and situations. The organization of DHS is in accordance with the Homeland Security Act, as modified by previous notices to Congress under Section 872 of the Homeland Security Act and by future legislative enactments. There is also a need for a more empowered and proactive agency that shares cyberthreat intelligence between businesses and government agencies, with the aim of helping organizations quickly identify and mitigate potential cyberincursions. Sign Up 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. 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 is comprised of: Headquarters in Washington, D.C. where the Office of the Administrator and various program offices are located. DHS must recognize that many serious challenges to Americas safety and security originate at home or are largely borderless by nature. 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. The Center for American Progress is an independent nonpartisan policy institute that is dedicated to improving the lives of all Americans through bold, progressive ideas, as well as strong leadership and concerted action. However, the DHS secretary should launch an initiative specifically to study the departments recruitment, retention, and training efforts to further identify areas of success and for improvement. The Coast Guard provides perhaps the best example, balancing its search and rescue missions with its clear and tailored drug and migrant interdiction roles. 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. The Department of Health Services (DHS) is one of the largest state agencies in Wisconsin, with an annual budget of roughly $15 billion and more than 6,300 employees. } That might mean proactively engaging with American businesses, alongside CBP, to inform efforts to improve the movement of goods and people across borders or refining immigration services so that processes dignify and welcome those who seek to invest their talents here. The department can no longer fulfill its purpose by focusing disproportionately on international terrorism and immigration enforcement and must understand that enforcement-overdrive has damaged critical relationships with communities and their leaders all across the country.10. Katrina Mulligan is the acting vice president for National Security and International Policy at the Center. To meet the challenges of today, the Biden administration and Congress should reform the Department of Homeland Security around a mission that highlights safety and services alongside its traditional protecting roles. An organizational structure is the allocation of authority and responsibility within a company. Former Senior Policy Analyst, Former Managing Director, Immigration Policy, Silva Mathema, Zefitret Abera Molla, Kiera Manser, Jared C. Bass, Jesse OConnell, Haneul Lee, Tobias Harris, Alan Yu, Lawrence J. Korb, Kaveh Toofan. 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. Even the Secret Service, which focuses largely on protecting elected leaders, plays an important role in ensuring public safety at National Special Security Events, playing a safety and services role that is critical to working with local communities across the nation on events of critical or high-visibility importance.78, In contrast, components such as the FPS and ICE are examples of DHS components that are primarily focused on enforcing federal laws and should not remain in a reimagined DHS. To avoid duplicating the leading role of the FBI and NCTC, DHS should reduce its investigative activities and narrow the focus of its counterterrorism intelligence analysis, as described more fully below. Necessary safeguards would need to be put in place to ensure that what immigration detention remains does not become wrapped up in the overall criminal carceral system. The Department of Homeland Security should play an important role in addressing the challenges and threats of today and tomorrow, and it should do so in a way that upholds American ideals and provides value to those who live, study, work, travel, and seek shelter here. During the Trump administration, however, the focus of DHS shifted squarely toward heavy-handed enforcement designed to terminate access to the country for asylum-seekers.48 The Biden administration has taken a different approach to border management and is beginning to reverse policies and repair the damage made to the immigration and asylum systems during the Trump administration.49 However, many challenges persist and demonstrate the need for a reorientation of cultural norms at DHS. 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. Incident response is a role that DHS is well situated to lead, and by doing so, and doing so well, other federal agencies can leverage DHSs incident response capacity and avoid replication. } Rob Ries is the Health and Human Services Commission's deputy executive commissioner of Compliance and Quality Control. 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