Department of Homeland Security Opens With Transportation Focus

img src="/sites/default/files/images/articles/printeditiontag_new.gif" width=120 align=right>WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security, a massive new federal agency that President Bush requested in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, officially opened its doors last week, with transportation security one of its major missions.

DHS brings together 22 federal agencies, among them the Transportation Security Administration, the U.S. Customs Service, the Coast Guard, the Secret Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Asking Congress in November 2001 to authorize the new department with its broad mandate, President Bush said its purpose was to “coordinate efforts to protect transportation systems within the United States, including railways, highways, shipping, ports and waterways, and airports, civilian aircraft, from terrorist attack.”