Too many departments under homeland security:
Placing so many departments and agencies under the department of Homeland Security has created more problems than it has solved. Currently DHS oversees Citizenship and Immigration Services; ; the Coast Guard; Customs and Border Protection; Domestic Nuclear Detection Office; the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC); Immigration and Customs Enforcement; the National Cyber Security Center; Secret Service; and Transportation Security Administration (TSA). DHS also has to coordinate with agencies such as the CIA, FBI, DEA, and Health and Human Services, among other agencies. This in return causes many conflicts between each agency and so-called “turf battles”.
The problem is that the departments under Homeland security interlace at some point when they are performing their duties. The “turf wars” that ensue cause problems in that less cooperation is shown among these departments. This results in poor performance on the part of Homeland Security as a whole. In certain cases, when there is lack of cooperation among the departments, it results in poor competition. People end up working on similar cases without sharing information. They do this in order to gain the credit for completing the job. This is in the expense of the tax payer who expects results from the department of Homeland Security (Nakaya, 2005).
However, the breakdown of Homeland Security has an advantage. With many departments functioning like units, their efficiency individually is increased since more specialization is enacted. More people can tackle a particular area of expertise and with proper leadership sharing of information cannot be a problem. The leadership of DHS should allow for the sharing of information to allow smooth working relations among their departments (Smith and Lynn, 2004).
Reference List:
Nakaya, Andrea C. 2005. Homeland security. Detroit: Greenhaven Press.
Smith, Norris, and Lynn Messina. 2004. Homeland security. Bronx, NY: H.W. Wilson Co.
Torr, James D. 2004. Homeland security. San Diego: Greenhaven Press.
