Bush, ridge, rove & the creation of the Department of Homeland Security

• Main Author: Gillies, James Clark
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/14392

In June 2002, President George W. Bush asked Congress to create a Department of Homeland Security to better protect the United States against further terrorist attacks. The public service reorganization that has taken place is perhaps the largest in American history apart from the post-World War II armed forces restructuring. But it remains to be seen whether this initiative will be effective. This thesis is an analysis of the factors at play in the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. It focuses on how the department came about, and what challenges, both political and bureaucratic, those who administer and manage the department will face. The thesis relies upon existing public management and bureaucratic theory literature to assess the new department. It also analyzes the Bush administration's governing style and their execution of presidential power. In particular, it discusses the role played by Bush's chief strategist Karl Rove in forging the new department. The Department of Homeland Security is not only a timely topic and one that allows for investigation of the federal U.S. public service but it is also about reinventing government, not through small endeavours internal to a department, but through the creation of a new and large organization.