The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was established in the wake of the September 11th attacks with the core responsibility to keep our nation safe. Over the past 19 years, DHS has evolved into the third largest Cabinet agency with over 250,000 dedicated professionals carrying out our mission through more than 20 component agencies.
Every day, DHS interacts with the public more than any other Federal agency – on land, at sea, in the air, and in cyberspace.
Building on a year of progress in 2021 and seeking to strengthen and enhance the Department’s capabilities in key areas, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas has developed twelve priorities to guide DHS’s strategic focus throughout the balance of 2022, and beyond. As we approach the Department’s 20th anniversary next year, these cross-functional priorities, which complement individual office and agency goals, will meaningfully advance our critical mission.
- Increase our effectiveness through transformational, cross-cutting initiatives: Strengthen our workforce, enhance our incident management capabilities, bolster our operational management, and better integrate the work of our component agencies and personnel so that we are drawing on our best resources to prepare for and respond to complex and dynamic events
- Champion our workforce and a culture of excellence internally and externally: Enhance employee engagement, build and maintain a culture of recognition, and champion the successes of our dedicated workforce
- Increase openness and accountability: Build and maintain trust with the communities we serve through improved data transparency, robust external communication, and strengthened oversight and disciplinary systems
- Advance Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) in our workforce and protect the privacy, civil rights, civil liberties, and human rights of the communities we serve: Ensure our Department reflects the diversity of the communities we serve and ensure that our programs, policies, and operations improve equity and protect privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties
- Innovate and harness technology to advance mission delivery: Adopt innovative approaches to optimize our operations and mission fulfillment and improve the customer experience
- Maximize our international impact and strength: Leverage our international footprint and relationships to advance homeland security objectives, and unify and fortify Department efforts to counter threats from China
- Combat all forms of terrorism and targeted violence: Counter all forms of terrorism, including through enhancing domestic and international information sharing, empowering communities, strengthening screening and vetting, and addressing new and emerging threats such as unmanned aerial vehicles
- Increase cybersecurity of our nation's networks and critical infrastructure, including election infrastructure: Lead federal efforts to increase nationwide resilience across the public and private sectors, and continue playing a lead role in responding to major cybersecurity incidents
- Secure our borders and modernize ports of entry: Harness technology at and between ports of entry, improve intelligence and information capabilities, and give our dedicated workforce the tools they need to secure our nation’s borders, including interdicting irregular migration and illicit flows of drugs, weapons, and other contraband
- Build a fair, orderly, and humane immigration system: Develop and implement regional migration solutions, lawful pathways as alternatives to irregular migration, and enhanced policies and processes to expeditiously and fairly administer our nation’s laws and uphold our values as a nation of immigrants
- Ready the nation to respond to and recover from disasters and combat the climate crisis: Increase our investments in community resilience and adaptation and improve our disaster readiness capabilities
- Combat human trafficking, labor exploitation, and child exploitation: Apply our resources and personnel to identify and protect victims, bring perpetrators to justice, and prevent the entry into the U.S. of products made with forced labor