There is no statutory definition of homeland security that reflects the breadth of the enterprise as currently understood. Although there is a federal Department of Homeland Security, it is neither solely dedicated to homeland security missions, nor is it the only part of the federal government with significant responsibilities in this arena. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was established by the Homeland Security Act of 2002 ( P.L. 107-296 ), which was signed into law on November 25, 2002. The new department was assembled from components pulled from 22 different government agencies and began official operations on March 1, 2003. Since then, DHS has undergone a series of restructurings and reorganizations to improve its effectiveness and efficiency. Although DHS does include many of the homeland security functions of the federal government, several of these functions or parts of these functions remain at their original executive branch agencies and departments, including the Departments of Justice, State, Defense, and Transportation. Not all of the missions of DHS are officially "homeland security" missions. Some components have historical missions that do not directly relate to conventional homeland security definitions, such as the Coast Guard's environmental and boater safety missions, and Congress has in the past debated whether FEMA and its disaster relief and recovery missions belong in the department. Some criminal justice elements could arguably be included in a broad definition of homeland security. Issues such as the role of the military in law enforcement, monitoring and policing transfers of money, human trafficking, explosives and weapons laws, and aspects of foreign policy, trade, and economics have implications for homeland security policy. Rather than trying to resolve the question of what is and is not homeland security, this report is a survey of issues that have come up in the context of homeland security policy debates. It is neither exhaustive nor exclusive in its scope, but representative of the broad array of issues likely to be taken up in one way or another by Congress in the coming months. After initial discussion of the definitions of homeland security, the homeland security budget, and the role of homeland security actors in the intelligence community, the report groups the issues into four general themes: Counterterrorism and Security Management; Border Security and Trade; Disaster Preparedness, Response, and Recovery; and DHS Management Issues As each topic under these themes is introduced, the author of the section is listed, along with their contact information. In many cases, a specific CRS report is highlighted as a source of more detailed information. [author name scrubbed], Analyst in Emergency Management and Homeland Security Policy ( [email address scrubbed] , [phone number scrubbed]) For more information, see CRS Report R42462, Defining Homeland Security: Analysis and Congressional Considerations . Prior to 9/11, the United States addressed threats to our homeland through the separate prisms of national defense, law enforcement, and emergency management. Policy discussions about how the government should confront emerging threats were made more urgent by the 9/11 attacks. Despite the reorganization put in motion after the attacks, including the Homeland Security Act of 2002, and concurrent evolution of homeland security policy, over 30 federal departments, agencies, and entities have homeland security responsibilities and receive annual appropriations to execute homeland security missions. Under the American structure of government, the executive branch is responsible for the development and execution of homeland security strategy, and Congress is charged with providing oversight and approving funding. It can be argued that the White House has the responsibility of coordinating homeland security activities that cut across the federal government, and encouraging state and local governments and the private sector to be willing and active partners in securing the homeland. Expression of national homeland security strategy predates DHS, and the documents by the executive branch show an evolution in their view of national homeland security priorities. The first homeland security strategy document issued by President George W. Bush's Administration was the 2003 National Strategy for Homeland Security , which was revised in 2007. In 2008, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued the Strategic Plan—One Team, One Mission, Securing Our Homeland . The 2007 National Strategy for Homeland Security primarily focused on terrorism, whereas the 2008 Strategic Plan included references to all-hazards and border security. Arguably, the 2003 and 2007 national strategies for homeland security addressed terrorism in response to such incidents as the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the attempted bombing of American Airlines Flight 93 on December 22, 2001, whereas the 2008 Strategic Plan addressed terrorism and all-hazards in response to natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, which occurred in 2005. These documents have been superseded by several other documents which are now considered the principal homeland security strategies, but they represent evolutionary steps in the development of the current policy. One way the Administration presents its thinking on homeland security to Congress and the public is through the QHSR process. This involves DHS reviewing its homeland security policy and programs, and then reporting to Congress on the results. Arguably, the review process may inform the development of combined national security and homeland security strategy. The 2014 QHSR endorsed the five mission areas spelled out in the 2010 QHSR, noting that the mission areas needed to be "refined in response to reflect the evolving landscape of homeland security threats and hazards." The five mission areas are: Prevent Terrorism and Enhance Security; Secure and Manage our Borders; Enforce and Administer Our Immigration Laws; Safeguard and Secure Cyberspace; and Strengthen National Preparedness and Resilience. Another way of looking at the Administration's thinking on homeland security is through the budget process. OMB's annual budget guidance—Circular A-11—provides federal departments and agencies with information on how to report to Congress on its homeland security expenditures. OMB states in its 2015 version of Circular A-11 that the six critical mission homeland security areas are identified in the 2004 National Strategy for Homeland Security. These six critical mission areas are: Intelligence and Warning; Border and Transportation Security; Domestic Counterterrorism; Protecting Critical Infrastructure and Key Assets; Defending Against Catastrophic Threats; and Emergency Preparedness and Response. Arguably, OMB's continued use of 2004 homeland security strategy mission areas in current guidance alongside the homeland security discussions in the 2014 QHSR and 2015 National Security Strategy indicates that these original missions still contribute to the Administration's analysis of homeland security matters by defining the terms of the budgetary discussion. The current primary national homeland security strategic document is the 2015 National Security Strategy , which is similar to the 2010 National Security Strategy that incorporated homeland security into the nation's national security strategy. The 2015 National Security Strategy identifies guarding against terrorism as the core responsibility of homeland security. The strategy also identifies improved information sharing, aviation and border security, and international cooperation as homeland security priorities. Community-based efforts and local law enforcement programs are identified as ways to counter homegrown violent extremism and protect vulnerable individuals from extremist ideologies that could lead them to join conflicts overseas or carry out attacks in the United States. Finally, the 2015 strategy states the federal government will work with the owners and operators of the nation's critical cyber and physical infrastructure to decrease vulnerabilities and increase resilience. At the national level, the 2015 National Security Strategy guides not just DHS's activities, but also all federal government homeland security activities. As noted above, Congress is responsible for providing oversight of and appropriating funds for homeland security activities. For Congress to exercise effective oversight and ensure efficient usage of taxpayer dollars, clear understanding of priorities for homeland security missions, goals and activities needs to exist between the branches. Policymakers could then use a process based on these defined priorities to ensure existing programs are on track and new developments can be addressed in a more strategic fashion. While the dynamic threat environment may not allow strategic priorities to be set in stone, Congress could encourage the use of a consistent broadly-drawn list of homeland security missions in budget and policy discussions, in order to facilitate strategic decisionmaking. Even though the conventional wisdom since 9/11 has often identified counterterrorism as the core responsibility of homeland security—a mission that is often interpreted as a federal-level national security function—it can be argued that homeland security, at its core, is about the coordination of disparate stakeholders to confront the full range of risks to the country—not just terrorism. This is the ultimate challenge of strategic homeland security policymaking: arriving at a consensus on what the current risk portfolio is, how that portfolio is evolving, what the appropriate missions are in response, and how to prioritize them—not just once, but constantly. This consensus isn't just "horizontal"—at the federal level—but "vertical"—reaching down to those with homeland security roles at the state, local, tribal and territorial levels, as well as in the private sector. Consistency in discussion of homeland security missions and strategy could also facilitate debate about the appropriate role of various federal, state, local and private sector stakeholders in ensuring homeland security. Such discussions are important in ensuring each level understands its role and can invest the proper level of resources to carry it out. [author name scrubbed], Analyst in Emergency Management and Homeland Security Policy ( [email address scrubbed] , [phone number scrubbed]) For more information, see CRS Report R43796, Department of Homeland Security: FY2015 Appropriations , and CRS Report R43884, Homeland Security Appropriations: FY2015 Action in the 114 th Congress . According to data from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the entire U.S. government spent $564 billion (in nominal dollars) on "homeland security"—defined in law as "those activities that detect, deter, protect against, and respond to terrorist attacks occurring within the United States and its territories"—in the 10 years after the 9/11 attacks. Such spending peaked in FY2009 at $73.8 billion. The total budget for homeland security activities for FY2014, the last year for which there is complete data, was $66.2 billion, a reduction of $7.6 billion from its high-water mark in nominal terms.