Divorce for FEMA; marriage for Customs?

• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Position: SECURITY BEAT: Homeland Defense Briefs

As a new year begins on Capitol Hill, rumblings are beginning for some structural changes in the Department of Homeland Security.

First up may be a merger of Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, two different agencies with similar tasks that appear to be at odds with each other, according to a DHS inspector general report.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, charged to be the investigative arm of the DHS' Border and Transportation Security, Directorate, was formed from bits and pieces of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Federal Protective Service and Federal Air Marshal Service. Customs and Border Protection came from the Treasury Department's Customs Service and the Department of Justice's Border Patrol.

The inspector general's report paints a picture of two bickering children under DHS parentage. The sibling rivalry is causing a decline in information sharing and coordination between the agencies as well as frustrations within employee ranks. The overlapping goals are weakening efforts to apprehend and deport...