ARGUMENT: DHS modernizationModernizing the Department of Homeland Security
DHS was born out of the horror of 9/11, but it is no longer clear that counterterrorism and immigration enforcement need to be the department’s dominant missions in the future. Carrie Cordero and Katrina Mulligan write that, instead, Congress and the new administration should evaluate how to keep Americans safe and secure in a world where pandemics, climate change and cybersecurity pose threats to the country’s way of life on a scale that was once the primary domain of terrorism.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been at the center of any number of controversies under the Trump administration, leading to arguments over whether the department should be reorganized or even done away with altogether. Over the past six months, in fact, there have been increased calls for the dismantling of the department.
Carrie Cordero and Katrina Mulligan write in Lawfare that President-elect Biden’s selection of former Deputy Director of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas as the next secretary suggests that the Biden administration will not seek to dismantle the department, but will likely instead shift its mission and priorities in a way that recalibrates the department’s interactions with the public.
They add:
This is a welcome development. With almost two decades behind it and new leadership in the Biden-Harris administration on the horizon, there is a fresh opportunity to conceive of a forward-looking Department of Homeland Security that best serves the nation’s safety.
The two of us have worked on national security, intelligence and law enforcement issues both before and after 9/11—and we do not think DHS is currently fulfilling its stated mission of “keeping America safe.” We acknowledge the department’s shortcomings and recognize the validity of some of the arguments made by those who would like to see it dismantled. But ultimately, we would like to see a future DHS that is retained as an institution but modernized. We agree with Bennie G. Thompson, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, that DHS “does not need dismantling, it needs reforming.” Indeed, reforming the department may be the only outcome that is politically feasible at this time.
To achieve that objective, legislative and executive reform efforts can be approached under the umbrella of three themes. First, the department’s mission should be reoriented from primarily an enforcement approach to a protective approach providing value to the American people. Second, the institution itself should be reformed through new oversight and accountability structures and processes. And third, the department’s activities should be rebalanced to focus less on legacy issues and more on current and emerging threats.
Cordero and Mulligan conclude:
[A]although DHS was born out of the horror of 9/11, it is no longer clear that counterterrorism and immigration enforcement need to be the department’s dominant missions in the future. Instead, Congress and the new administration should evaluate how to keep Americans safe and secure in a world where pandemics, climate change and cybersecurity pose threats to the country’s way of life on a scale that was once the primary domain of terrorism. This will require Congress and DHS to reexamine what the deadliest and most costly threats facing the nation today really are—and reprioritize the department’s activities accordingly.
