United States Department of Homeland Security An Overview

On November 25th, 2002, President George W. Bush signed into law the Homeland Security Act undertaking the largest government re-organization since the creation of the Department of Defense (DoD) in 1947. Like its counterpart, the resulting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rose in the wake of a treacherous surprise attack wreaking unthinkable mass destruction on the United States; and like the DoD, DHS was established to prevent such an attack from happening again. But if the nation already has a Department of Defense, why does it need a separate Department of Homeland Security? What is the difference between their two missions? What is "homeland security," and why after thousands of years is terrorism suddenly deemed a significant threat? These questions prompted a close look at the new Department. This book attempts to sort through the confusion and answer the most critical questions by examining DHS' origins, mission, organization, and initiatives. It was compiled from the collective works of authoritative sources in the field, and edited to eliminate most of the contradictory and misleading data to create a concise, meaningful, and informative compendium addressing the fundamental issue: "What is the Department of Homeland Security and how does it protect America?"White & Collins is the author of 'United States Department of Homeland Security An Overview', published 2005 under ISBN 9780536152954 and ISBN 0536152950.