The department needs to be retired. It is nothing but an expensive bureaucracy put in place to usurp authority from the American people. Look at its lineage. Before 9/11 ever happened the Rand Corporation and the CSIS came up with this cabinet level department. When 9/11 occurred all theny needed was the signature of the president to open shop. If that doesn't sound fishy to you, it sure seems odd to me.
The NGOs, Rand and CSIS, of course have been given the lions share of the money to set the department up. This constitutes a public/private partnership that is the antithesis of a free government. The DOH duplicates the role of other cabinet level departments, and the design is such that, if you have been watching, it starts to take over other government offices with elected officials running them to replace them with appointed bureaucrats. This separates them from oversight by the voters and creates an entrenched bureaucracy that empowers the NGOs it uses to fulfill its mission. Not a good thing for a free republic.
From the get go, the title "Homeland Security" smacked of Germany in 1939 or the Soviet Union in 1960.
When I first heard the proposed title for the new department I simply shook my head and thought: Some one in DC has waaaay too much time on their hands!.
After the queerly titled Patriot Act was unveiled and the DHS reorganization was announced, my suspicions were confirmed.