Experienced Military Veteran and Quality Assurance professional with a demonstrated history of working in government, hospital, acute health care settings, and private physician based . Looking ahead, it is easy to imagine threats to Americans economic security or food supply that DHS could help to solve through its critical infrastructure and emergency response capabilities, were it determined to do so. subscribe.submit(); In achieving this recalibration toward a safety and services model, the two biggest components of CBPthe Office of Field Operations (OFO), staffing ports of entry, and the Border Patrol, securing the border between portsshould be merged into one integrated entity focused on border management. Monday, June 13, 2022. Department leadership should work to clearly set limits on enforcement activities and constrain them appropriately to ensure past mistakes and abuses are not repeated and work with Congress to codify these restrictions. 696 0 obj <> endobj 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. In a world where the public and private sectors must take independent action to ensure Americas safety and security, the government needs a trusted, effective mechanism to communicate threat information, including intelligence information, with the public and private sectors and between different levels of state, local, and federal government officials. dataLayer.push({"event": "signup_submit", "form_detail":"enSubscribeFooter"}); An expanded role for DHS in managing information sharing and public disclosures of intelligence between federal entities and their local counterparts would be a valuable public service and enhance DHSs role as a communicator. The departments founding mission to prevent another 9/11-style attack continues to influence its outsize focus on counterterrorismdespite the fact that DHSs ability to prevent terrorism is limited, and entities such as the FBI and NCTC are often in the lead statutorily. Rebalancing toward a safety and services model requiresbringingDHSs activitiesintobalance andensuring they arenot overly focused on threat-oriented priorities. For example, CBP could greatly benefit from specialized training of its Border Patrol agents to initiate a cultural change of its workforce and prepare them to handle asylum-seekers at the border humanely and fairly. This approach should apply for other national incidents and emergencies as well. While the department will continue its efforts to protect, secure, prevent, and enforce,4 CAP proposes a strategic shift to a safety and services framework for DHS that would bring the departments existing responsibilities into balance and realign its priorities around five new core values: connecting, communicating, facilitating, welcoming, and helping. Critical Infrastructure Sectors. The organizational structure of the Department of Health and Human Services includes a Chief Executive Officer who is appointed by the Governor and subject to confirmation by a majority vote of the members of the Nebraska Legislature. 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. It is the way in which a company or organization is organized, including the types of relationships that exist between the directors . They lent us their time and expertise over the past six months to help shape our understanding of what the mission and value proposition of DHS should be in todays world in order to address the needs, challenges, and opportunities facing the nation and to develop and refine our recommendations. DHS should narrow the scope of its prevention activities to focus its efforts where DHS has sole or unique responsibilities such as in lawful screening and vetting of travelers and goods that cross U.S. borders, countering disinformation, and funding research into evidence-based approaches to preventing extremism. FEMA declared an emergency and allowed Texans to apply for federal assistance for storm recovery,71 but a more proactive responsewith better cooperation at the state and local levelmight have prevented such severe destruction from occurring in the first place. As the department expands what it means to keep the nation secure, DHS should reimagine its role in protecting personal information and privacy. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. For large organizations like the DHS, managing IT and finding ways for disparate systems to work together can be a complicated task; doing so while supporting government operations means that the stakes can be even higher and the consequences more widespread. As DHS approaches its 20-year mark, the United States has an opportunity to redefine the departments value proposition for the future and to better align DHSs structure and activities with its mission. !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. CBP, under DHS, is charged with functions that range from countering terrorism, securing the border, and facilitating trade and travel. 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. (LockA locked padlock) 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. These steps include clarifying the CRCLs statutory authority to ensure that it is involved in the policymaking process from the beginning, rather than being asked to respond or investigate once policy is already set; that its recommendations receive timely responses from the agency; and more.86 In addition, this study recommends a broader policy role for DHS in protecting personal information and privacy. hVN0/K Chief Accountability Officer, Gary Kramer. The list of all Operational and Support Components that make up the Department along with our organization chart and the list of senior leadership. The Center for American Progress believes that having a Cabinet agency such as DHS remains critical to the safety and well-being of Americans. DHS also plays a critical role in adjudicating immigration benefits and promoting naturalization, which are the primary functions of USCIS. The Biden administration and Congress have the opportunity to transform DHS into an agency that provides much greater value to the American people and those who visit or seek safety or opportunity here. A clear structure allows every team member to be involved. But meaningful change will also require headquarters-level prioritization and the establishment of new internal incentives to drive CBPs cultural evolution. Attachment(s): A list of all Operational and Support Components that make up DHS. We are sincerely thankful for their support. CAP conducted a qualitative study and review of DHS informed by discussions with more than 35 stakeholdersincluding former and current government officials, policy experts, and civil society membersfrom November 2020 to May 2021. Critics offer competing ideas about the sources of DHSs challenges. DHS is best suited to collect information that other agencies cannot, primarily at ports of entry, and use that information for intelligence purposes. Mara Rudman, Rudy deLeon, Joel Martinez, 5 More An official website of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Official websites use .gov This report also reflects the collective work of numerous researchers, analysts, and experts across the Center for American Progress. With the State Department focused on messaging abroad, DHS could play the lead for countering disinformation domestically. 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. DHS lacks those bureaucratic guardrails, and the consequences of weak constraints on DHS became particularly clear during the Trump administration. ICE is charged with enforcing immigration laws and investigating the illegal movement of people and goods. With appropriate oversight and respect for civil liberties, the department has tremendous potential to advance public safety and provide critical services. )M&bmVAi[-yH]R$[T >sp6Ih9}gOEj@0!C~oB?gc&q c)m1sm4`8RD? It might mean working with public and private sector stakeholders to deliver better information about risks to critical infrastructure. See the organizational chart for the Department of Homeland Security. DHSs complicated web of roles and responsibilities also means that it plays a supporting role nearly everywhere but rarely leads. For more information about the offices and agencies that make up DHS, or to find out about the Department's leadership, click on the links below. Both FPS and ICE perform primarily law enforcement functions that do not enable other safety and services functions within DHS to operate. The . endstream endobj startxref Katrina Mulligan is the acting vice president for National Security and International Policy at the Center. ` " First, DHS should adopt a service-oriented approach to citizenship and immigration services that is welcoming to immigrants and the U.S. citizens and residents hoping to sponsor them. In an era of increased movement of people and goods across borders, we need a DHS that prioritizes the rule of law, and one that protects all Americans as well as everyone who comes to live, study, work, travel, and seek safety here. Operational and Support Components A list of all Operational and Support Components that make up DHS. Previously, Ries was senior adviser to HHSC's chief . Here's how you know DHS has a responsibility to safeguard the information it acquires and to protect the civil liberties and privacy of U.S. personsand all personswhen permitting the use of that information for other purposes. 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. 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. Recognizing the challenges DHS faces, the department remains critical to the safety and well-being of many. While DHS can contribute to efforts to thwart organized crime and bring criminal actors to justice, the DOJ should continue to serve as the lead federal agency for TOC. The CRCL officer should lead and oversee the relevant offices within DHS which include the CRCL, the Privacy Office, the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, and the Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman. American Progress would like to acknowledge the many generous supporters who make our work possible. Om//~0V#j&I."R!,rP_fnme0KE(BG There are 16 critical infrastructure sectors whose assets, systems, and networks, whether physical or virtual, are considered so vital to the United States that their incapacitation or destruction would have a debilitating effect on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any . 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. 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. Renewing the DHS workforce also is critical to the departments long-term success. 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. 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