Fixing the DHS: Why Restructuring is the Only Way Forward
The revolving door at the Department of Homeland Security—with Kristi Noem exiting and Markwayne Mullin reportedly moving in—is, frankly, just window dressing. While the news cycle fixates on who holds the top office, the deeper, structural rot within the agency remains untouched. The problem with DHS isn’t the individual in charge; it’s the bloated, unfocused architecture of the department itself. From a degraded FEMA to an erratic TSA, the agency is drifting.
More alarming is the shift in culture. Under the current administration, agencies like ICE and the Border Patrol have morphed into entities that seemingly operate outside traditional norms, facing serious allegations of rule-of-law violations. In January alone, a federal judge in Minnesota noted that ICE defied more court orders than most agencies do in their entire lifespan. We are witnessing an unprecedented and dangerous consolidation of power.
We need a wholesale disassembly and restructuring of the department, not just another cabinet shuffle.
Reflecting on my early tenure as a deputy assistant secretary for policy at DHS, the mission felt clear: a post-9/11 response to protect the homeland. We built layers of security, screened goods, and utilized a ‘force multiplier’ strategy to handle crises. Yet, over two decades, the department absorbed unrelated functions—like immigration adjudication and interior labor enforcement—that have little to do with fighting foreign terrorism. It turned a protective agency into a potential political tool, and that is a failure of design.
The final act of this tragedy is the weaponization of the department’s resources against its own citizens. By deploying tools intended for counterterrorism against protesters and using facial-recognition technology to track Americans, the agency has abandoned its original purpose. To restore any sense of order and safety, we must disaggregate the DHS. Return FEMA to its independent roots, shift immigration services to the Justice Department, and force the Border Patrol to focus exclusively on the borders. If we don’t dismantle the current structure, we are simply waiting for the next inevitable abuse of power.