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June 17, 2002
New Department of Homeland Security to be Created
The White House announced on June 6th its intent to create
a new Department of Homeland Security in order to develop and execute more
effective policies with regard to this function. According to a White House
press release, the new Department would consist of four divisions: Border
and Transportation Security, Emergency Preparedness and Response, Chemical,
Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Countermeasures, Information Analysis
and Infrastructure Protection.
According to the White House plan, the INS would be included within the
new Department in the Border and Transportation Security Division. However,
it appears the INS would still under-go some form of its currently-anticipated
reorganization with the processing of immigration benefits and services
being separated in some way from the enforcement activities. While it also
appears the State Department would still be responsible for processing and
issuing visas through U.S. Embassies and Consulates abroad, the new Department
would "assume the legal authority to issue visas to foreign nationals and
admit them into the country" so it is unclear how the new Department will
interact with the State Department. Finally, the Department would also incorporate
the United States Customs Service (currently part of the Department of Treasury),
the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (Department of Agriculture),
and the Transportation Security Administration (Department of Transportation)
along with the Immigration and Naturalization Service and Border Patrol
as part of its border security jurisdiction.
GT will provide updates as they become available.
Official
Web Page of the Department of Homeland Security
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