Transforming homeland security: The creation of DHS (chart)

Created in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the formation of the Homeland Security Department involved a massive reorganization of the federal government. The...

When the Homeland Security Department was formed in 2003, it was an unprecedented modern transformation of the nation’s national security and law enforcement agencies.

For DHS, which absorbed 22 agencies and offices from 12 different departments and brought some 200,000 employees all under one roof, so to speak, it wasn’t always a seamless transition.

Some employees decried the loss of their individuality as once-independent agencies were brought under the DHS banner. Others denounced what they saw as the creation of a huge, cumbersome bureaucracy.

However, defenders of the agency point to the lack of an attack on U.S. soil since 9/11 as evidence that DHS has worked.

The chart below shows the various agencies and offices that were absorbed by DHS under the Homeland Security Act of 2002.

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