Description

Like too many other American institutions, national security institutions such as DHS are facing a crisis of trust. In recent years, growing public concern about the department’s role, combined with devastating natural disasters and the global pandemic, has given rise to political will to engage in meaningful discussions about DHS reform.
 
Over the next six months, CAP will organize convenings with key thought leaders; will produce a report offering a new vision for DHS’s future, aligned with the department’s strengths and with our democratic values; and will hold a public event to disseminate recommendations, along with a full communications and press plan. CAP is well-positioned to carry out this work, as a policy action tank with cross-cutting expertise and relationships with a broad array of stakeholders. The project will be led by Mara Rudman, CAP’s executive vice president for policy. It will draw on expertise from senior staff on CAP’s executive, national security, and immigration policy teams as well as experts in democracy, criminal justice reform, racial justice, technology, and environmental policy.
 
Restoring public trust and confidence in national security institutions will require efforts aimed at a broader set of issues, but a critical piece of any effort to restore public trust will require an examination of the mission and role of DHS. The last four years have revealed that the complex web of DHS authorities give an unconstrained executive far more power than most Americans know, or want. These abuses—combined with devastating natural disasters and the ongoing global pandemic—have given rise to unprecedented political will to engage in meaningful discussions about DHS reform.
 
The project is envisioned as the first phase of a longer-term body of work that might include policy papers proposing a new mission, structure, authorities, and oversight of a reformed DHS.