The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which was established in late 2002 as a response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001; folded over 20 federal agencies into one organization (DHS, 2016). The idea behind such a decision was that by putting, essentially the nation’s civil defense organization under a unified command, the government could more effectively identify, analyze and thwart any credible risks to the nation’s security.
Naturally, in combining such a large number of agencies there were a number or redundancies and synergies that were established. Take for example, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). As the names suggest, both the CBP and ICE are involved in regulating the entry into the country of people and products. The relevant differences between the two is basically a matter of location. The CBP is generally stationed at the nation’s borders and seeks to prevent the unauthorized entry into the nation of contraband, illegal immigrants and terrorists. If contraband or a person can successfully make it past the border and into the country, the CBP generally has no jurisdiction to operate. Indeed, the job of ICE is mainly to find and detain those people or goods that have successfully made and unauthorized entry and either remove them from nation, or, as is the case with contraband destroy it.
While DGS has done well in incorporating such a diverse number of agencies into one entity. More could of or can be done to eliminate the redundancies and facilitate the synergies. For instance, there seems little reason why CBP and ICE are separate agencies. They should be combined which would make it easier to share information and conduct operations. There should not be the current barrier that the results from separating two agencies focused on immigrations and custom. For instance, which should two agencies be involved in pursuing and apprehending a person got past the border guard. It would seem that the border guard would have the most relevant information necessary to capture the perpetrator more effectvely
References
United State Department of Homeland Security (DHS). (2016). About DHS. Retrieved from https://www.dhs.gov/about-dhs
