ABOLISHDHS

Department of Homeland Security

Twenty-two agencies, one panic-built bureaucracy.

Official story

What they claim to do

Coordinates the nation’s defense against terrorism, disasters and border threats.

Ground truth

What they actually do

Formed in 2002 by merging 22 existing agencies, DHS has spent more than two decades on the Government Accountability Office’s high-risk list for management problems. Its budget runs to tens of billions of dollars a year.

The libertarian case

DHS was built in the panic after 9/11 and bolted bureaucracy onto functions that already existed: border inspection, the Coast Guard, the Secret Service. It also houses the TSA, ICE and much of the surveillance state. Keep what works under its own roof. Abolish the rest.

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