History

Creationedit

In response to the September 11 attacks, President George W. Bush announced the establishment of the Office of Homeland Security (OHS) to coordinate "homeland security" efforts. The office was headed by former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, who assumed the title of assistant to the president for homeland security. The official announcement states:

The mission of the Office will be to develop and coordinate the implementation of a comprehensive national strategy to secure the United States from terrorist threats or attacks. The Office will coordinate the executive branch's efforts to detect, prepare for, prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from terrorist attacks within the United States.

Ridge began his duties as OHS director on October 8, 2001. On November 25, 2002, the Homeland Security Act established the Department of Homeland Security to consolidate U.S. executive branch organizations related to "homeland security" into a single Cabinet agency. The Gilmore Commission, supported by much of Congress and John Bolton, helped further solidify need for the department. The DHS incorporated the following 22 agencies:

Original agency	Original department	New agency or office after transfer
U.S. Customs Service	Treasury	U.S. Customs and Border Protection U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Immigration and Naturalization Service	Justice	U.S. Customs and Border Protection U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
Federal Protective Service	General Services Administration	Management Directorate
Transportation Security Administration	Transportation	Transportation Security Administration
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center	Treasury	Federal Law Enforcement Training Center
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (part)	Agriculture	U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Federal Emergency Management Agency	none	Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
Strategic National Stockpile National Disaster Medical System	Health and Human Services	Originally assigned to FEMA, Returned to HHS, July 2004
Nuclear Incident Response Team	Energy	Responsibilities distributed within FEMA
Domestic Emergency Support Team	Justice	Responsibilities distributed within FEMA
Center for Domestic Preparedness	Justice (FBI)	Responsibilities distributed within FEMA
CBRN Countermeasures Programs	Energy	Science & Technology Directorate
Environmental Measurements Laboratory	Energy	Science & Technology Directorate
National Biological Warfare Defense Analysis Center	Defense	Science & Technology Directorate
Plum Island Animal Disease Center	Agriculture	Science & Technology Directorate
Federal Computer Incident Response Center	General Services Administration	US-CERT, Office of Cybersecurity and Communications National Programs and Predaredness Directorate
National Communications System	Defense	Office of Cybersecurity and Communications National Programs and Predaredness Directorate
National Infrastructure Protection Center	Justice (FBI)	Office of Operations Coordination Office of Infrastructure Protection
Energy Security and Assurance Program	Energy	Office of Infrastructure Protection
U.S. Coast Guard	Transportation	U.S. Coast Guard
U.S. Secret Service	Treasury	U.S. Secret Service

According to border theorist Peter Andreas, the creation of DHS constituted the most significant government reorganization since the Cold War and the most substantial reorganization of federal agencies since the National Security Act of 1947 (which had placed the different military departments under a secretary of defense and created the National Security Council and Central Intelligence Agency). DHS constitutes the most diverse merger of federal functions and responsibilities, incorporating 22 government agencies into a single organization. The founding of the DHS marked a change in American thought towards threats. Introducing the term "homeland" centers attention on a population that needs to be protected not only against emergencies such as natural disasters but also against diffuse threats from individuals who are non-native to the United States.

Prior to the signing of the bill, controversy about its adoption was focused on whether the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency should be incorporated in part or in whole (neither were included). The bill was also controversial for the presence of unrelated "riders", as well as for eliminating certain union-friendly civil service and labor protections for department employees. Without these protections, employees could be expeditiously reassigned or dismissed on grounds of security, incompetence or insubordination, and DHS would not be required to notify their union representatives. The plan stripped 180,000 government employees of their union rights. In 2002, Bush officials argued that the September 11 attacks made the proposed elimination of employee protections imperative.

Congress ultimately passed the Homeland Security Act of 2002, and President Bush signed the bill into law on November 25, 2002. It was the largest U.S. government reorganization in the 50 years since the United States Department of Defense was created.

Tom Ridge was named secretary on January 24, 2003, and began naming his chief deputies. DHS officially began operations on January 24, 2003, but most of the department's component agencies were not transferred into the new department until March 1.

After establishing the basic structure of DHS and working to integrate its components, Ridge announced his resignation on November 30, 2004, following the re-election of President Bush. Bush initially nominated former New York City Police Department commissioner Bernard Kerik as his successor, but on December 10, Kerik withdrew his nomination, citing personal reasons and saying it "would not be in the best interests" of the country for him to pursue the post.

Changes under Secretary Chertoffedit

On January 11, 2005, President Bush nominated federal judge Michael Chertoff to succeed Ridge. Chertoff was confirmed on February 15, 2005, by a vote of 98–0 in the U.S. Senate and was sworn in the same day.

In February 2005, DHS and the Office of Personnel Management issued rules relating to employee pay and discipline for a new personnel system named MaxHR. The Washington Post said that the rules would allow DHS "to override any provision in a union contract by issuing a department-wide directive" and would make it "difficult, if not impossible, for unions to negotiate over arrangements for staffing, deployments, technology and other workplace matters". In August 2005, U.S. District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer blocked the plan on the grounds that it did not ensure collective-bargaining rights for DHS employees. A federal appeals court ruled against DHS in 2006; pending a final resolution to the litigation, Congress's fiscal year 2008 appropriations bill for DHS provided no funding for the proposed new personnel system. DHS announced in early 2007 that it was retooling its pay and performance system and retiring the name "MaxHR". In a February 2008 court filing, DHS said that it would no longer pursue the new rules, and that it would abide by the existing civil service labor-management procedures. A federal court issued an order closing the case.

Changes under President Trumpedit

On November 16, 2018, President Donald Trump signed the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act of 2018 into law, which elevated the mission of the former DHS National Protection and Programs Directorate and established the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. In fiscal year 2018, DHS was allocated a net discretionary budget of $47.716 billion.

Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen resigned as secretary on April 7, 2019, effective April 10. On November 13, 2019, Chad Wolf became the acting secretary and named Ken Cuccinelli as the Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Deputy Secretary. The office of secretary remains vacant.