DHS: Built to Fail

Feb 08, 2026

For more than two decades, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has stood as one of the most enormous, most sprawling bureaucracies in the federal government—an agency created in crisis, expanded without guardrails, and repeatedly unable to fulfill its mission. What began as an attempt to unify national security functions after 9/11 has hardened into a structurally incoherent institution whose size, mandate, and internal contradictions now undermine both public safety and democratic accountability. It is time to disassemble DHS, reassign some of its essential functions to other agencies better suited to execute them, install guardrails to secure oversight and constitutional discipline, and ensure that funds are spent as mandated by Congress and are properly audited.

Created in 2002 under the Homeland Security Act (HSA), the DHS became operational on March 1, 2003. It was tasked with consolidating 22 agencies, many of which were contained in other departments. The reasons for the formulation of DHS and the consolidation of these agencies into a single entity are laudable. These goals are considered to be the strength of the HSA:

1. Unify intelligence sharing between agencies that were previously in their own silos, strengthen aviation security through the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA), and expand capabilities to detect and disrupt foreign terrorist plots.

2. Disaster response and resilience were to be enhanced by integrating FEMA into DHS, to improve response to large-scale disasters, invest in preparedness, resilience, and infrastructure protection, and develop national frameworks for emergency response.

3. Develop cybersecurity leadership by the creation of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and coordinate response to cyberthreats, and protect critical infrastructure.

4. Border and Maritime Security were to be enhanced by the consolidation of Customs and Border Protection, the Coast Guard, and immigration enforcement under one umbrella. Maritime rescue and interdiction operations were also expected to be enhanced through integration into DHS.

To be sure, there have been successes, but they have been transitory and overshadowed by the actions of the current incompetent administration. Overall, DHS has dramatically failed in all of these missions. No previous administration has made those failures as inhumane, immoral, and unconstitutional as they now are.

1. Slowed and selective dissemination of intelligence products for state and local partners has endangered response times and effectiveness. While TSA’s budget has grown, it has become less efficient. The elimination of collective bargaining, persistent staffing shortages, leadership instability, policy whiplash, increased layers of procedures, and decades-long procurement timelines have dramatically reduced morale. DHS Inspector General tests have repeatedly shown an 80-95% failure rate in detecting prohibited items.

2. Who can forget the delayed and incompetent FEMA response to Hurricane Katrina, or the delayed, sketchy, politicized response to the disastrous 2025 Hill Country flooding in Texas, or the still sadly lacking response to the Hurricane Helene damage in Eastern Tennessee? There have been many other failures. Recently, the response to the January Arctic blast has been clearly inadequate. Just weeks before the storm struck, FEMA stopped renewing contracts for front-line responders. These are not isolated incidents. In 2025, the Building Resistant Infrastructure and Communities (BRICS) program, consisting of $3.6 billion in already approved but not yet funded projects and $882 million in projects pending approval, and the Flood Mitigation Assistance program (FMA) were cancelled. The funds were redirected to be returned to the treasury. Much of the BRICS funding was restored by a federal judge, but only after months of delay and uncertainty, resulting in increased costs. FEMA enters most disasters understaffed, particularly in logistics and incident management, with inadequate pre-positioning of supplies and repeated contracting failures. Cancellations and delays of the BRICS and FMA projects will undoubtedly result in greater expenditures for disaster cleanup and greater suffering for affected communities. Federal, state, and local roles are often misaligned, particularly during the critical first 72 hours. Outdated hazard models and poor response plans usually don’t match real-world conditions. All of the shortcomings are exacerbated by poor, incomplete, or absent public messaging.

3. Under the management of Tulsi Gabbard, the CISA’s operations became marred by on-and-off staff cuts, heightened classification bottlenecks, slower clearance of intelligence products, and increased politicization of the sharing of intelligence. This has resulted in far slower or non-existent dissemination of critical intelligence.

4. While there’s no denying that immigration into the U.S. has decreased in the last year, there is some question of how much of that is due to the upswing in the Mexican economy compared to the downswing in the U.S. economy. Of course, the brutal tactics of ICE and CBP have also been quite forbidding. Much has already been written on that, so there’s little point in commenting further here other than to say that ICE and CBP immigration enforcement controversies, gross violations of civil liberties, violations of due process, lack of transparency, family separation and detention policies, consistent inordinate use of force, and mission creep are severe stains on their performance and mission adherence. Both ICE and CBP have clearly become rogue agencies. Beginning early in the Trump Administration, with the firing of Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Linda Fagan for nebulous reasons, DHS oversight of the Coast Guard has, for years, seriously compromised its ability to fulfill its many and diverse charters. Current turbulence in structure and organization has resulted in operational uncertainty, disruption to workplace cohesion, and confusion in command structures. The recent attempt to remove the rescue helicopter from its station in Newport, Oregon, in order to build an ICE detention facility in the chopper's hangar clearly illustrates DHS’s lack of dedication to improving the Coast Guard’s search-and-rescue capability.

Clearly, the DHS has failed to achieve these hoped-for goals. From the outset, there was some unease about the formulation and the problematic guidance for its activation and establishment, and inadequate guardrails for its operation.

1. Expanded surveillance raised concerns about privacy and constitutional rights. Of particular concern, surveillance of journalists and activists has been dramatically expanded. Watchlist and screening programs have been abused to place additional burdens on perceived enemies. As an example, an ICE watcher was photographed by an ICE agent and put on a watchlist. She later discovered that she had been removed from the Trusted Traveler and Global Entry programs, thus requiring much earlier check-in times for air travel. This was not an isolated incident. It constitutes not only undue harassment and expense, but also dilutes the attention that can be focused on more immediate and realistic threats and individuals.

2. ICE and CBP atrocities, including family separation, detention in unsanitary and dangerous conditions leading to the death of more than 30 detainees, use of force incidents, and alleged murder, have been extensively documented and videotaped.

3. Merging 22 agencies created overlapping missions and chronic management challenges. Repeated inspector general reports have cited inconsistent oversight and internal fragmentation.

4. Perhaps the most significant concern for the security of our country is that DHS’s mission creep has expanded its operations far beyond counterterrorism. Perhaps more importantly, this has diluted focus on many of the critical areas that keep us safe. To exacerbate this concern, many of our most critical intelligence-gathering allies no longer share much of the information they might receive. Too much shared information and too many sources have been leaked to potentially hostile countries and groups.

Sadly, failure to address these issues has validated those concerns. In addition, there are very real allegations of conflict of interest.

1. Tom Homan previously ran a firm that helped companies secure DHS contracts. His alleged receipt of a $50,000 bribe to secure a contract has been widely reported. After joining the Trump administration, he reportedly participated in meetings with immigration contractors about contracts, potentially violating ethics rules. Companies affiliated with Homan were shortlisted for lucrative DHS contracts. These include the notorious GEO Group, operator of many of the infamous ICE detention centers.

2. Stephen Miller, reportedly the behind-the-scenes leader of DHS, allegedly held financial and professional ties to private contractors that profited from Trump’s immigration agenda, including stock investments, past lobbying work, employment history, and campaign contributions.

3. Kristi Noem, continues her long-standing South Dakota gubernatorial history of questionable personal and financial ties in her current job as DHS Secretary. She has an extensive personal and business relationship with The Strategy Group, a Republican consulting firm. That firm has worked extensively with Corey Lewandowski, Noem’s top DHS advisor and close personal acquaintance. It received undisclosed payments from DHS’s $220 million advertising campaign. DHS attempted to hide these questionable transactions by using an “emergency” justification to bypass competitive bidding. In addition, the Strategy Group is listed nowhere on public contract spreadsheets. Instead, its newly created Delaware shell company was listed as the prime recipient.

These instances are likely the tip of the iceberg.

Multiple failures and controversies surrounding the DHS, including expanded surveillance that infringes onn civil liberties, documented abuses by ICE and CBP, and persistent management issues caused by the merger of 22 agencies. It also highlights growing mission creep that undermines national security efforts, the erosion of intelligence sharing with international partners, and serious allegations of conflict of interest involving top DHS officials and contractors. The cases presented suggest these issues represent only a fraction of the department’s deeper, systemic problems.

There really isn’t a single “best” solution to the many problems within the DHS. I certainly won’t pretend to be an organizational expert, but any resolution will have to deal with a messy political and legal environment. Proposed fixes range from the complete dissolution of DHS and the reassignment of its components to a top-to-bottom reorganization that would gut and rebuild its incentives and authorities, all overseen by independent Inspector Generals at every level.

At a minimum, any resolution must include a dramatic reduction in the size and scope of DHS (or its successor) and a clarification of its mission with the establishment of hard evaluation metrics, including robust civil rights monitoring, financial and mission oversight, highly targeted budgeting, and a real administrative and personal accountability and enforcement structure for serious violations of mission and/or ethics. While ICE and CBP have important missions, they have clearly been not only horribly mismanaged but also poorly staffed. Both are too badly flawed to continue to exist. They should be completely dismantled and rebuilt from the ground up.

While it is clear that DHS must be reined in, we must abandon the fantasy of “If we just disband DHS, everything will be alright.” A breakup without guardrails would lead to chaos rather than reform. DHS was established with a real mission and a real need. Sadly, it was designed with a too broad and poorly defined organization and charter. The current incompetent, hyper-politicized, and malevolent leadership has only highlighted those shortcomings. Clearly, any rebuild must account for the potential of the type of leadership we are currently experiencing. The guardrails must be well established, and the watchdogs well insulated.

https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2019-11/OIG-20-02-Nov19.pdf

https://www.oversight.gov/sites/default/files/documents/reports/2020-12/OIG-21-07-Nov20.pdf

https://www.propublica.org/article/kristi-noem-dhs-ad-campaign-strategy-group

https://southdakotasearchlight.com/2025/11/14/firm-tied-to-kristi-noem-secretly-got-money-from-220-million-dhs-ad-contracts/

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/documents-show-gov-kristi-noem-tried-to-avoid-ethics-hearing-seal-records

https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/politics/2022/09/09/south-dakota-kristi-noem-ethics-board-investigation-documents-kassidy-peters-what-we-know/8003728001/

https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/raskin-warren-lead-call-for-investigation-of-defense-contractors-ties-to-trump-administration-officials

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/palantir-ice-connections-draw-fire-201450715.html

https://fedscoop.com/dhs-ai-inventory-mobile-fortify-palantir/

https://www.palantir.com/newsroom/press-releases/homeland-security-investigations-renews-partnership-with-palantir/

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/01/purge-palantir-donation-tracker-ice-congress/

https://orangeslices.ai/dhs-to-sole-source-investigative-case-management-icm-system-contract-to-palantir/