Department of Homeland Security: Gaps and Fixes The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had a colorful 14-year history. Many will say that the DHS has created a hulking bureaucracy and has placed or lumped together a great deal of departments that do not have any related functions. DHS currently suffers from a great deal of structural issues, but the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Transportation Safety Administration, and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement are in dire need of Presidential attention. Federal Emergency Management Agency Division of Responsibility First, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is another conglomeration of several different agencies and organizations. There is a trend that started in …show more content…
More and more authorities continue to be taken away and have been spread across many agencies within DHS. “FEMA no longer manages a comprehensive emergency management program of mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery and the agency function that President Carter and the Governors envisioned in 1979 no longer exists” (FEMA, 2013). The sole focus has turned to terrorism disaster preparedness and FEMA has become somewhat dismantled and lost its ability to provide the command and control that it had prior to the move to DHS. This will prove to be a major flaw and will again, show the failure of FEMA in the next occurrence of natural disaster the United States faces. There are other agencies within the DHS that need to be scrutinized as …show more content…
The TSA suffers from the very same issues that have plagued the Veterans Administration for years, the problem is government employees. Once someone becomes a government employee and they have served beyond the probation period, trying to remove them it is like treating terminal cancer; you can try to treat it, but it will not go away. Replace senior federal leadership with professionals that have not been part of the problem from the start. “Employees know they work for “the government” and know their employment is guaranteed for life; with a few rare exceptions. They also know that the people who they provide services to are not who they work for” (Satterfield, 2015). This includes leadership as well, everyone within the federal government, that is a government employee, knows that it takes a great deal for an individual to be removed from government service. Ineffective leadership should not be tolerated within the TSA, but then again, it should not be tolerated with any organization. The FEMA and TSA are not the only DHS agency that must be restructured, there are others that come to
They should of delegated the work to the 22 other agencies and seen what worked best for the overall department. The pressure of the recent attack on the United States put the agency under the microscope of the nation because everyone was on high alert. The first issue was that the DHS was having problems with coordinating actions
Let’s look at what happen post 9/11. After it’s devastation, the Department of Homeland Security was created to assist in fighting the “war” against terrorism. The DHS implemented many “strategies” to help fight this war, including increasing airport security. American parents protested that TSA agents were groping their kids, and “(Janet) Napolitano (former DHS Secretary) defiantly retorted that if people did not want their children groped, they should yield and use the unpopular full-body machines – the machines being sold by her predecessor, (Michael) Chertoff” (Turley, 3).
Homeland security and other agencies can also push down information in the same manor. Relevant information to CBP gets sent down the chain and it is far more efficient with receiving information in a timely manner.
Fusion Centers is all about sharing information to protect the public in order for that to occur there needs to be more involvement from the DHS when it comes down to it. It would be like a fire and only calling the police, well you need the police to keep the crowd safe, but you also need the fire department to put out the fire along with the ambulance in case someone needs medical
So there is many ways the department of homeland security keeps us safe on a day to day basis. They also have a good business section that works with businesses to regulate certain policies and anti terrorism protection for businesses.they are very committed to enabling better utilization of departmental data to improve the quality of services to the American people, while developing products that promote innovation while maintaining
Terrorists shattered America's sense of safety. The federal government created Transportation Security Administration (TSA), shortly after the attacks. Before September 11, 2001, airports did not have an ongoing system in place to make sure that the flight was going to be safe. The security inside of the airplane has also changed to prevent hijack planes. From 9/11 forward the cockpit will remain locked for the entire flight with only the pilots in there.
Congress gave many responsibilities for this department to handle, like the water system of the United States capital, handle the expansion into the west, take care of the hospitals, universities, handle the affairs with the Native Americans living in the United States, as well protect public lands. These were some of the purposes of why this department was created by Congress. It sole purpose was to handle the nation's internal affairs and make sure the people living are happy and taken well cared for. Some examples are the Interior's Mexican Boundary Commission, which created the international borders with Mexico. This was to help both nations on where their nation ends and so both of their military and police forces know where to stop at and not cross the border.
This news article implies that FEMA should be disbanded. The author states that when the federal government gets involved in natural disasters, especially hurricanes, more harm may be caused than good. The federal government has been involved in responses at a much higher rate than in the past due to an increase in declared federal disasters averaging 139 a year. There are an abundance of federal guidelines that must be followed when a disaster occurs that often makes it difficult for officials to make clear and concise decisions. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina FEMA spent an excess of money that was not allocated correctly so much of the money was wasted.
When George W. Bush was proposing to congress why the Department of Homeland Security needed to formally become a government department he explained that, “The President proposes to create a new Department of Homeland Security, the most significant transformation of the U.S. government in over half-century by largely transforming and realigning the current confusing patchwork of government activities into a single department whose primary mission is to protect our homeland. The creation of a Department of Homeland Security is one more key step in the President’s national strategy for homeland security” (Bush “The Department” 1). In 2002 the Department of Homeland Security formally became a department of government after congress passed the Homeland Security Act (Homeland Security – Creation of the department of Homeland Security). The Homeland Security Act of 2002 states that, “the primary mission of the Department is to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, reduce the vulnerability of the United States to terrorism, and to minimize the damage, and assist in the recovery, from terrorist attacks that do occur
Compared to other departments of the federal government, the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the youngest among all. After the tragic events of 9/11, DHS was created by the passing of the “Department of Homeland Security Act of 2002, and was an outgrowth of the Office of Homeland Security established by President George W. Bush after Sept. 11, 2001. Strong congressional support for a new federal department that would unify diverse and overlapping security functions of the federal government led to a White House proposal for the DHS in June, 2002, and the legislation was passed late the same year.” (Pearson Education, 2000 - 2015). The creation of the DHS allowed for the reorganizing of existing agencies with functions
The Border and Transportation Security division is the biggest area of the DHS; it is in charge of securing U.S. outskirts and transportation frameworks. This directorate no more seems to work as a different division of the DHS. Rather it functions as a piece of the National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD), which likewise handles the Emergency Preparedness and Response Directorate. Starting 2011, the obligations of this directorate seem, by all accounts, to be taken care of by U.S. Traditions and Border Protection, alongside different divisions and workplaces, as a component of the DHS. Different organizations working under the umbrella of the BTS incorporate the Transportation Security Administration, the Animal and Plant Health
One of the leaders of the government’s crisis management team described 3.11 as “a management crisis of crisis management.” Other critics claimed that his approach was counterproductive because it just added to the problems of “vertical administration by dispersing legal power across headquarters, councils, and working groups, and task forces in a maze of understaffed, competing, and ill- conceived new organizations.” Like I previously stated, the failure of the DPJ to handle 3.11 was due to the tight hold on the bureaucracy’s ability to do their job. At least, that was the narrative that was being created by influential
There have been many natural disasters in the US recently. Natural disasters like hurricanes and wildfires has hit the country and affected millions of people. The government plays a huge role in the recovery process. They must provide assistance and aid for the disaster victims and get people the help that they need.
As soon as a representative “detects” something, another representative is strapping on a pair of blue gloves, prepared to get his or her daily jollies. In my opinion, the behavior of the Transportation Security Administration employees is unacceptable. The qualifications to become a TSA “officer” are minimal, resulting in a census of about sixty thousand officers. I feel as if the employees of the Transportation Security Administration abuse their powers, turning the matter of national security into a game. Scared or smart, the United States Government has authorized TSA personnel to use any means necessary to “protect” the safety of air travelers.
The NCS agency is vital in restoring telecommunications in an area following an incident. (IS-802: Emergency Support Functions (ESF) #2 - Communications) FEMA The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is the Primary Agency who is responsible for providing support of