Department of Homeland Security a Bureaucratic Behemoth After Eight Years

WASHINGTON, March 1, 2011— -- Eight years ago today the George W. Bush administration completed the largest reorganization and expansion of the federal government since the Cold War with the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.

The move combined 22 disparate federal agencies, from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to the U.S. Secret Service, under a new Cabinet-level office at the White House with a starting budget of $37 billion -- a 90 percent increase in homeland security spending over the year before.

But what began as a small operation, coordinated from inside the White House by first Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, has grown to a bureaucratic behemoth, with the second-largest combined workforce behind the Department of Defense and a budget of $57 billion requested for fiscal year 2012.

DHS now leads the effort to prevent and disrupt terror attacks, screen airline passengers and cargo across the country, combat the sex trafficking of children, and patrol the borders and cyberspace, among many other duties.

Officials say despite the broad range of responsibilities and steep start up costs, the agency's work is paying off and getting more efficient every day.

"Our nation is more secure than it was two years ago, and more secure than when DHS was founded," Secretary Janet Napolitano wrote in a blog post to mark the anniversary. "Nonetheless, our work never stops."

Napolitano has heralded recent improvements in administrative efficiency, saving taxpayers close to $1 billion, and reduced reliance on outside contractors by 11 percent, or $420 million.

"There are a lot of things that have evolved," former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said today, reflecting on the operations of the agency he helped created. "We were building this agency at the same time we were trying to set up the mechanisms to make us more secure."

But some Republicans say the Department of Homeland Security, whose budget has steadily risen each of the last eight years, has not done enough to reign in costs and curb its incremental growth. And they say now is the time to make cuts at the agency for the first time in its history.

"The Department Homeland Security was created after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and since then has been plagued by waste, fraud, and extensive bureaucracy," wrote Tea Party favorite and freshman Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul in a budget proposal released last month.