DHS Strategic Planning

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge was the first Director of the Office of Homeland Security in the White House eleven days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In November 2002, Congress passed the Homeland Security Act. The stand-alone Cabinet-level department became official on March 1, 2003. The department currently has 22 different sub-entities that make up a more integrated DHS with a unified goal towards national security.  DHS's mission includes securing 7,000 miles of border land, 16 critical infrastructure sectors, millions of airline passengers, 328 ports of entry, and much more. DHS's Science and Technology Directorate Strategic Plan 2020-2025 addresses goals, challenges, and their appropriate responses.

DHS's first goal is to "build trusted relationships with customers that support the delivery and adaption of mission-critical solutions". This involves understanding customer operations, priorities, missions, and capability gaps. The second goal is to "excel at a set of core offerings and capabilities that are aligned to customer mission needs". This involves DHS customer testing, evaluation, simulation, and systems engineering. DHS's third goal involves strengthening external partnerships to improve mission priorities. These partnerships include government, academia, industry, and national laboratories. The last goal involves creating dynamic and unified cultures. DHS's matrixed approach enables them to provide the appropriate resources, solutions, and expertise to their customers.  

DHS realizes there are challenges. The first challenge is they serve many customers with diverse missions and operational needs. The Science and Tech response is to further engage with customers to understand these diverse and evolving needs. DHS realizes their customers require timely solutions to achieve missions. Therefore, DHS will further invest in Science and Tech to ensure they are equipped to provide timely solutions. Lastly, DHS's challenges are interdisciplinary and complex. Therefore, DHS wishes to create a unified structure and culture to collaborate and solve these complex problems. 

Only time will tell if DHS is equipped and prepared to combat complex science and technology problems. These rapidly changing industry requires adaptation and immense preparation. It appears they have a strategy. Now, it is time to potentially adapt and secure the homeland.