In the aftermath of September 11th, on November 25th, 2002, President Bush signed the Homeland Security Act, which created the new Department of Homeland Security. This department was granted a tremendous a amount power; and with that power comes a tremendous amount of responsibility. In the early stages of its planning, it was hoped that the Department of Homeland Security would provide the needed coordination to government anti-terrorism efforts. President Bush needed a strong leader to take on the huge task of leading this new department. T

Homeland Security has become the third largest department in the executive branch, employing over 180,000 people. Twenty-two formerly independent agencies have been placed under the direct supervision of the department. These agencies include the Coast Guard, Customs Service, the Secret Service, the Federal Protective Service, Immigration and Naturalization Service, Federal Emergency Management Service and many others (http://www.cdt.org). The homeland Security Department is the highest level government division formed since the Energy Department in 1977 and the largest government reorganization since President Harry Truman created the Department of Defense in 1947. Supporters of the new department say that having a single, centralized agency to direct homeland security efforts will strengthen the government’s ability to stop terrorist attacks and fill the cracks in communication between agencies that may have caused the failure to detect terrorist activity in the past. Critics say however, that creating such a huge agency would only water down strength of those individual agencies and overburden one department.

Since another terrorist attack appears to be inevitable, an outward look and the new Department of Homeland Security appears to be a positive step in the right direction of making the United States safer from future attacks. The strategy of the department provides the right framework to pre-empt threats, as best as possible and prepare for any incident, should and incident occur. It helps meet our needs in every phase of homeland security, from border and transportation security to infrastructure protection to emergency response and recovery. It also engages the academic and scientific community to find solution to these challenges. Ultimately, it enables the 180,000 dedicated men and women of the Department of Homeland Security to maximize their strength, so that it can help our nation reach a new level of readiness, to prevent any future terrorist attacks on U. S. Soil.

Much progress has been made since September 11th to decrease the likelihood that the terrorists will succeed in their plans of future attacks. More than 3,000 suspected terrorists have been detained in nearly 100 nations. More than $100 million in terrorist assets worldwide have been blocked or frozen. U. S. Customs and Border Protection agents have been stationed at the largest international ports to search and label cargo befo

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