what is the organizational structure of dhs

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. Experienced Military Veteran and Quality Assurance professional with a demonstrated history of working in government, hospital, acute health care settings, and private physician based . Service orientation and safety need not be in tension; the Coast Guard provides a good model for how the two can be well balanced within a single organization. At the same time, past mistakes in prevention-based programs have been well documented, and a more proactive government approach must carefully consider potential risks to civil rights and liberties when designing programs to counter violent extremism of any ideological bent.54. Acronym Glossary The following are the three main steps of organizational change: 1.. Balancing these missions effectively ensures that the Coast Guard can play a vital role in combating terrorism and interdicting drug trafficking while also leading efforts to save people, as it did during the deadly hurricanes in 2017 in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.74. Despite maintaining an intelligence records system and collecting, aggregating, and storing information on millions of individuals, including U.S. persons, HSI is not an intelligence agency.25 Yet it is collecting, analyzing, and storing information in ways that have previously been the exclusive domain of the IC. CBP focuses on keeping terrorists and their weapons out of the United States while facilitating lawful travel and trade. 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. CBP would still retain its law enforcement functions, but it would operate with a better understanding of the broader agendaas well as the border communitiesit serves. Organizational Chart See how the Department of Homeland Security and all of its component agencies are organized by exploring the Organizational Chart. Efforts are underway to improve departmentwide workforce satisfaction, measured through yearly index scores such as the inclusion and employee engagement indexes. But the current DHS operating emphasis precludes its effectiveness in squarely meeting this central mission or fulfilling unmet needs today. 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. DHS' most recent and updated organizational chart as of June 2022. Eleven days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, then-Pennsylvania Gov. 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. Here's how you know In cases where special expertise is required, DHS can serve as an emergency response quarterback, identifying resources and making them available to the departments and agencies that need them. When disaster strikes, FEMA is oftenthough not often enoughthe nations first responder. , an advocacy organization dedicated to improving the lives of all Americans. 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. 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. DHS officials should conduct a human capital needs assessment, properly screen individuals with ties to extremist groups, and ensure department personnel receive adequate training before they are sent into the field. 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. As DHS as a whole intensifies focus on safety and service, law enforcement efforts should occur within this context rather than as the primary mission. It is critical to consider the following questions: What should be the primary focus of the department? 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. Yes No DHS could also develop better warning and prediction systems that enable a more proactive federal response and assistance presence. 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. 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. Or it might mean partnering with technology companies to thwart domestic extremist messaging on online platforms. Their combined mission would include traditional security components; facilitating the movement of goods and people to grow binational economies; upholding U.S. domestic and international protection obligations; and promoting quality of life for all people living in and migrating to and between border communities.73, The way the current Coast Guard balances its enforcement and service mission is commendable and could serve as a guide to recalibrating border management. And while I&A should redouble its efforts to facilitate the communication of threat information between partners, it should not conduct intelligence activities that are beyond the scope of its authorities. 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. 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. Moving forward, DHS has an opportunity to focus on the most pressing threats, including domestic and borderless threats in addition to ongoing global threats, and to hone the departments capacity to serve as the emergency response quarterback for a broader set of national emergencies. 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. 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. CISA is one of DHSs most visible success stories. What does DHS need to do, and what is better left to, or better done by, other departments and agencies? Organizational structures describe what employees do, whom they report to, and how decisions are made across the business. Each employee's position is identified, including their function and who they report to within the firm. Operational and Support Components A recent report by DHSs Office of the Inspector General found that while DHS had the legal authority to deploy in Portland, not all officers were properly trained and used inconsistent uniforms, devices, and operational tactics.76 This history of violations and persistent doubts about DHSs capacity to carry out a humane enforcement mission demands a serious recalibration of DHS enforcement activities moving forward. See the organizational chart for the Department of Homeland Security. 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. While the department still has an important role to play in preventing attacks against the United States from abroad, many of todays most serious risks to Americas safety and prosperityincluding natural disasters, pandemic disease, cyberattacks, and domestic extremism fueled by white supremacyoriginate at home or are borderless by nature. Philip E. Wolgin is the acting vice president of Immigration Policy at the Center. if(subscribe.checkValidity()) { 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. A. Understanding the opportunities DHS has today is critical to transforming the agency to better meet unfulfilled needs around Americans safety and security, to address the issues that emerged or significantly worsened during the past four years, and to focus attention on the right set of priorities for the department going forward. The TSAs Federal Air Marshal Service provides additional passenger safety on commercial passenger flights. 8791, the Department of Homeland Security Reform Act of 2020 As Introduced by Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), available at, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Intelligence and Analysis, available at, Steve Vladeck and Benjamin Wittes, DHS Authorizes Domestic Surveillance to Protect Statues and Monuments, Lawfare, July 20, 2020, available at, Federal Register, Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records, September 18, 2017, available at, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Privacy Act of 1974; DHS/CBP-024 Intelligence Records System (CIRS) System of Records,, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, available at, U.S. National Archives, Executive Order 12333 United States intelligence activities, December 4, 1981, available at, Mitch Lortz, What is the All-Hazards Approach to Emergency Preparedness?, Everbridge, January 9, 2018, available at, For example, a 2010 fact sheet released a year after the bombing highlighted department reforms aimed at enhancing counterterrorism efforts and claimed, Protecting the United States from terrorism is the cornerstone of homeland security. Press Office, Department of Homeland Security 2010 Accomplishments & Reforms (Washington: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2010), available at, Nick Miroff, Trump shifting DHS focus from counterterrorism to immigration,, Kaveh Waddell, America Already Had a Muslim Registry,, Sari Horwitz and Jerry Markon, Racial profiling will still be allowed at airports, along border despite new policy,, American Civil Liberties Union, National Security Entry-Exit Registration System, available at, Carrie Cordero, Reforming the Department of Homeland Security Through Enhanced Oversight & Accountability (Washington: Center for a New American Security, 2020), available at, Richard Gonzales, ICE Detains Alleged Victim Of Domestic Abuse At Texas Courthouse, NPR, February 16, 2017, available at, American Civil Liberties Union, ICE and Border Patrol Abuses, available at, Ryan Brooks, ICE Deported A Survivor Of The El Paso Walmart Shooting Who Was Assisting In The Investigation, Her Lawyers Says, Buzzfeed News, January 30 2021, available at, Donald J. Mihalek, Congressional committee power erodes homeland security,, The Atlantic Council, The Future of DHS project: Time to reform Congressional oversight of the Department of Homeland Security, December 17, 2020, available at, Atlantic Council, Former and Acting Secretaries of Homeland Security sign open letter on consolidating congressional jurisdiction over DHS, Press release, November 9, 2020, available at, Carrie Cordero and Katrina Mulligan, Modernizing the Department of Homeland Security, Lawfare, December 9, 2020, available at, Office of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Pelosi Announces Agreement on Committee Jurisdiction Regarding Department of Homeland Security, Press release, January 25, 2021, available at, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. 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. Components such as the Coast Guard, the TSA, and CBP have narrow law enforcement roles that are directly tied to safety and security missions. Threats from domestic violent extremism are rapidly growing in the United States and endanger our way of life, our values, and our democracy.52 CAP has called for a strong, coordinated response that marshals the weight of the federal government and uses the right tools, developed using fact-based evidence, to reduce the likelihood of violent attacks before they occur.53 While federal efforts to respond to domestic violent extremism primarily fall within the FBIs authority, and because there are strong arguments that some prevention efforts would be better housed in the departments of Education or Health and Human Services, there is no agency charged with taking the lead in countering disinformation, coordinating federal grantmaking programs to promote resilience (along with the DOJs Office of Justice Programs), and providing support for risk-based prevention responses. 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. 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. An official website of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. `~d2*i)-zX The current administration should evaluate how much of this realignment can be done within existing statutory functions and what requires congressional assistance and legislation. Budget - Tiffany Blair, Director. An organizational structure is a system that outlines how certain activities are directed in order to achieve the goals of an organization. It also helps ensure that DHS capacity is aligned to where DHS has the most to contribute. Ten regional offices that work directly with states, territories and tribes. Given these demands, DHS will be relied upon to bridge the gap between public and privately owned infrastructure and ensure that federal protection efforts can effectively extend to all sectors and are executed with strong civil liberties and privacy protections in place. DHS should take a broader view of what it means to keep the nation secure and adapt its mission and activities accordingly. Successive administrations have continued to interpret DHSs mission as primarily focused on protecting the homeland from threats from abroad. Since its founding, there has been persistent confusion about DHSs role as well as complaints about its structure, operations, and oversight. This approach should apply for other national incidents and emergencies as well. A better-managed system would also plan for shifting flows of migrants and asylum-seekers at the border, anticipate the infrastructure needed to safely and humanely process and screen them, and cultivate a welcoming culture of front-line service agents. 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. Established in 2003, the Department of Homeland Security was largely defined by the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and the response to those tragic events continues to shape the priorities and mission of the department today. =#|pl&m">+s\e4*O^N\.2%u%jkhJ{KZ":9-b@>o@XT!Ke?. HW]o6}7@`s! Chief Financial Officer - Robert Brock. 2i{,g%_,=@,(}H30h*cD@ J Welcome Patrol: how some border agents are struggling with Bidens policy shift, Reuters, May 14, 2021, available at, Most policymakers would likely be surprised to find out that the Border Patrol considers itself primarily in the business of preventing the entry of terrorist and terrorist weapons from entering the United States between official ports of entry, whereas the Office of Field Operations, in its own estimation, has a more balanced mission, responsible for border securityincluding anti-terrorism, immigration, anti-smuggling, trade compliance, and agriculture protectionwhile simultaneously facilitating the lawful trade and travel at U.S. ports of entry that is critical to our Nations economy. See U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Executive Assistant Commissioners Offices, available at, Ron Nixon, Department Commandant Lays Out Coast Guards Successes and Challenges,, For example, the ACLU has documented CBPs interpretation of its authority to operate within 100 miles of any external boundary as key to documented abuses: In practice, Border Patrol agents routinely ignore or misunderstand the limits of their legal authority in the course of individual stops, resulting in violations of the constitutional rights of innocent people. See ACLU, The Constitution in the 100-Mile Border Zone, available at, Andrew Crespo, Unpacking DHSs Troubling Explanation of the Portland Van Video, Lawfare, July 25, 2020, available at, Office of Inspector General, DHS Lacks Oversight of Component Use of Force (Redacted) (Washington: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2017), available at, Congressional Research Service, National Special Security Events: Fact Sheet (Washington: 2021), available at, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICEs Mission, available at, See, for example, Peter L. Markowitz, A New Paradigm for Humane and Effective Immigration Enforcement (Washington: Center for American Progress, 2020), available at, Matt Zapotosky and Chico Harlan, Justice Department says it will end use of private prisons,. dhs DHS . 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what is the organizational structure of dhs