ABSTRACT
The security of the nation has been and will remain an essential responsibility of our government. The Department was created in the shadow of the attacks of September 11, 2001; the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was authorized in the Homeland Security Act of 2002 and was officially established on November 25, 2002, in response to the 2001 attacks on the United States. During 1998, Secretary of Defense William Cohen, with the endorsement and support of President Clinton and House Speaker Newt Gingrich, created the United States Commission on National Security/21st Century. The Department of Homeland Security emerged from the ashes of September 11, 2001, and redefined itself after Hurricane Katrina; it became a major component of a national effort to respond to the evolving global dynamics of the post–Cold War period. The Department became operational on January 24, 2003, with most component agencies merging on March 1, 2003.
