TheDepartment of Homeland Security (DHS)is best described as afocused single enterprise with a shared vision among many entities.1Since its creation following the 9/11 attacks, the mission of DHS has been to unify the previously fragmented domestic security efforts into a single "Homeland Security Enterprise."2This enterprise includes not only the federal departments (FEMA, TSA, CBP, Coast Guard, etc.) but also state, local, tribal, and territorial partners, as well as the private sector and the American public.3
The "shared vision" is defined in theQuadrennial Homeland Security Review (QHSR), which identifies five core missions:
Preventing terrorism and enhancing security.
Securing and managing our borders.
Enforcing and administering our immigration laws.
Safeguarding and securing cyberspace.
Ensuring resilience to disasters.
Option B is incorrect because, while DHS is multi-faceted, its goal is to move away from "decentralized" silos toward an integrated "Unity of Effort." Option C describes a function (Information Sharing), but it does not capture the "Enterprise" mission. For theCEDPprofessional, understanding DHS as an enterprise is critical for grant funding and resource coordination. It means that a local police department’s anti-terrorism efforts are part of the same "vision" as the Coast Guard’s port security and CISA’s cybersecurity initiatives. This single-enterprise approach ensures that the nation’s diverse security components are working toward the same strategic goals, reducing overlaps and gaps in the defense of the homeland.
