DHS 2.0

Rethinking the U.S. Department of Homeland Security

When the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was created in 2002, it combined numerous disparate federal agencies, created new entities, and required complex collaborative and coordinating activities across a wide variety of federal departments. Since then, DHS has experienced severe "growing pains," raising questions about whether the organization is structured appropriately to adequately secure and protect the United States.

To help address this problem, CSIS and partner institutions will explore what changes might be made to advance DHS v.2.0. Through a combination of expert panels and private discussions with current leadership at the Department, the project team will develop a set of principles to guide future reorganization; compile a list of potential organization changes to consider; and work toward establishing a bi-partisan assessment of key legislative "fixes" to guide the evolution of the Department.