This is trrue. If you know or have a family meber in the Federal Service, and department, these days you know for a fact it's all about "benefits", not "patriotism".
All employees of the Executive Branch serve at the pleasure of the President; the Constitution recognizes only one such Chief Executive.
The war department of the federal government, over which the President is the Commander in Chief, includes federal employees not necessarily of the current sub-department known as the Dept. of Defense.
The proposed Dept. of Homeland Security, is a separate department than the DoD, but the DoHS is a also a sub-department within the war department. Same for the C.I.A., the N.S.A., etc. --- they are sub-departments of the war department of the federal government.
The President could have, at any time, grabbed a cab, gone over the DoD, and begun to appoint personnel to an operation satisfying the purposes he thinks necessary, and called the operation, the Federal Bureau of Homeland Security.
Instead, the President's natural inclination to prostrate himself before the Alter of the Beltway and submit a request for bigger government, rules him --- because he lets it, that is his nature.
When issuing the directions for establishing the Federal Bureau of Homeland Security under the war department, should have been among his work load from day1, the day he became aware of how serious was and is the threat from Fascist Islamism and fascist group-nationalizing socialism --- that's a day well in advance of September 11, 2001.