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1 Spencer Reynolds & Alia Shahzad, DHS at 20: An Agenda for Reform: Holding Homeland Security Accountable: How to Strengthen Departmental and Congressional Oversight 1 (2023)

handle is hein.brennan/dhsahdgh0001 and id is 1 raw text is: DHS AT 20: AN AGENDA FOR REFORM Holding Homeland Security Accountable How to Strengthen Departmental and Congressional Oversight By Spencer Reynolds and Alia Shahzad PUBLISHED OCTOBER 26, 2023 The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was created hastily as part of the sweeping U.S. response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. With some 260,000 full-time employees and an annual budget of $103 billion, the sprawling agency is a ubiquitous facet of American life. As the Brennan Center demonstrates in its DHS at 20: An Agenda for Reform series, which builds on years of research on terrorism prevention, social media monitoring, and surveillance, the department's programs are plagued by an overbroad mandate that gives its agents huge latitude and scant guidance. Previous reports in this series have advised focusing DHS's work and strengthen- ing safeguards against overreach.1 This report details the internal oversight reforms that must accompany these changes. Congress has codified the protection of civil rights, civil liberties, and privacy as departmental obligations. DHS's mission statement espouses a commitment to American values, which it does not define but which presumably reflect these protections.2 Several headquarters oversight offices within DHS are meant to uphold these responsibil- ities, including the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL), the Privacy Office, and the Office of Inspector General (OIG). Certain headquarters operational divisions, such as the Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A), and subdivisions within DHS components also perform over- sight, liaise with headquarters oversight offices, and conduct internal affairs inquiries. Finally, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB), an independent executive agency that reviews government counter- terrorism activities and advises the president, has jurisdic- tion over DHS. Yet the existing mechanisms for oversight and account- ability are too weak to check the department's expansive authorities and operations. They have proved ineffective to protect the values that DHS purports to uphold. By ceding to law enforcement operations and priorities, they have paved the way for the excessive surveillance and aggressive counterterrorism practices that DHS has become notorious for. The various oversight offices within DHS have two roles to play. First, they must effectively advise operational and policy decision-makers before the department takes any action. They must determine whether a proposed initiative should be modified or even abandoned to avoid potential civil rights, civil liberties, or privacy harms. Oversight Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law 1

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