I have frequently heard on television about the Department of Homeland Security in our current world affairs, but I never completely understood what it did. I researched a little about it, and discovered that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is a cabinet department of the U.S. federal government founded in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It is headquartered in Washington D.C., and located across from American University (one of the colleges that I researched about last year for you). President George Bush created this department in 2002 in order to coordinate "homeland security" efforts. Its main objective is to protect the U.S. and its territories from terrorist attacks, man-made accidents, and natural disasters. The DHS is the parent agency of many other agencies such as: U.S. Coast Guard, Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Secret Service, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. As you can see, the DHS is tied closely to agencies that deal with the protection of U.S. soil. Here is a picture of the seal of the DHS and of their headquarters in Washington D.C.
The seal of the DHS is very symbolic; it represents their mission of protecting American people from terrorist attacks on land, in the air, and on the sea. One division of the DHS that caught my eye was the National Cyber Security Division (NCSD), who's responsible for the maintenance of a national cyberspace response system and protecting critical infrastructure. Another division I saw was the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), whose responsible for coordinating responses to a disaster that occurs within the U.S. Next week I will begin to research some of the child agencies that are under the Department of Homeland Security.
