Discussion

The Department of Homeland Security, created in 2002, created the second largest government agency in the country (second only to the Department of Defense). The creation of this agency was highly controversial in the United States Congress for two primary reasons. First, the cost of administration of the new agency immediately created a new, huge financial obligation of the government that did not exist previously and, secondly, the new agency became an "umbrella" agency that managed twenty-two previously autonomous agencies already assigned the basic mission directives of security within the United States. Are these alleged criticisms valid, or did a new need exist?