re: #170 Targetpractice

The creation of DHS was more about the view that the various agencies being scattered among the different departments was what led to 9/11, the idea that if you got all the intel and domestic security agencies under one roof then they could better coordinate and provide a unified defense against further terrorist attacks.

But what worked in theory ended up being a total disaster in practice, because like the creation of the DoD back in the middle of the 20th century, the new department spent more time consolidating its power and justifying its existence than actually doing its damned job.

It never made sense to me. For example, the Secret Service was part of the Treasury Department because their main job was stopping counterfeiting. Why move them to an agency that doesn’t deal with the money?

The same goal could have been accomplished by simply improving communications between agencies (which was the real problem, for example the CIA couldn’t tell the FBI or Customs that someone was on the way to the country or already in the country). Having a DNI within the WH staff to coordinate was really all we needed.