The constantly changing nature of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has led to a report providing recommendations to assist the agency in transitioning to a new presidential administration. Addressing the 2009 Presidential Transition at the Department of Homeland Security by the National Academy of Public Administration offers a number of suggestions meant to help keep DHS afloat—and national security on course—amidst a sea of political change.
Suggestions for DHS action are timelined in blocks ranging from party conventions to elections to the inauguration and beyond. Among actions suggested are implementing a transition plan, working with Congress to appoint transition team members, helping the new administration swear in a DHS secretary on Inauguration Day and reexamining the ratio of political appointees to career executives in the department.
Even with a “seamless transition” plan, however, the report warns against DHS appearing to lack leadership during presidential change and states the lack of collaboration between DHS umbrella agencies will be the department’s biggest challenge.
The report can be downloaded online.
Jolie Breeden is the lead editor and science communicator for Natural Hazards Center publications. She writes and edits for Research Counts; the Quick Response, Mitigation Matters, Public Health, and Weather Ready Research Award report series; as well as for special projects and publications. Breeden graduated summa cum laude from the University of Colorado Boulder with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.