The Atlantic Council’s Scorcroft Center for Strategy and Security has released Future of DHS Project: Key Findings and Recommendations, a report designed to address issues within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. A key recommendation of the report is to have the DHS refocus its main mission to nonmilitary threats. Recent events, such as the coronavirus pandemic and foreign election interference, have highlighted the need for increased concentration on nonmilitary national security threats. Suggested enhanced priorities would include pandemic response, heightened cybersecurity measures, and international and domestic terrorism prevention with the goal of maintaining physical, economic, and democratic protections.

However, to address these needs, the DHS should also consider updating organizational operations and management strategies to increase productivity, morale, and intra- and inter-agency work flow.

According to the report,

When large cabinet departments are ranked by overall morale, DHS has occupied last place every year since 2010.

Low morale threatens the overall goals and mission of the department by lowering employee loyalty and trust in leadership. While DHS has had past success in improving morale within certain departments, more improvements are still needed, specifically within the Transportation Security Administration and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agencies. In addition to this, DHS can strengthen its efforts by modernizing public-private sector partnerships and by making “threats against critical infrastructure a priority across the Intelligence Community.”

 

For more information on related topics, visit the HSDL Featured Topics on Domestic (U.S.) Terrorism and  Cyber Crime and National Security. Additional resources on National Security, Infrastructure Protection, National Preparedness, and Disaster Mitigation can be found at the Homeland Security Digital Library (HSDL). Please note: HSDL login is required to view some of these resources.

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