3
Agency Merger and Managerial Flexibility in the Department
of Homeland Security
Introduction
On June 6, 2002, President George W. Bush proposed the creation of the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) as a new Cabinet department (Bush 2002b, Bush 2002c, 2002d).
After more than five months of debate and controversy, President Bush signed the Homeland
Security Act on November 25, 2002.
As enacted, the mission of DHS is to:
Prevent terrorist attacks within the United States;
Reduce America’s vulnerability to terrorism; and
Minimize the damage and recover from attacks that do occur (Bush 2002b, 8).
The Department has four directorates, 1) Border and Transportation Security, 2) Emergency
Preparedness and Response, 3) Science and Technology, and 4) Information Analysis and
Infrastructure Protection (USGAO 2002e). In addition, both the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S.
Secret Service have been transferred intact and report directly to the Secretary of DHS.
This paper examines the creation and integration of the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS), especially the “freedom to manage” the new Department (Ridge 2002, 19).
This freedom revolves around four central issues of presidential management: leadership,
networking and coordination, mission compatibility, and managerial flexibility:
To what degree is effective leadership critical to the creation and implementation of
DHS?
To what degree does effective implementation of the Department require networking
and coordination with governmental and nongovernmental partners?
To what extent are the missions of the combined organizations compatible with one
another and the overall mission of DHS?
Convention