US Homeland Security Jobs

The Department of Homeland Security offers a very wide variety of jobs from many different agencies all focused on the goal of keeping the United States safe from anyone or anything that would do the country harm.

Goals

The main goal of the Department of Homeland Security, according to its website, is to lead the unified national effort to secure the country and preserve our freedoms. Though the Department of Homeland Security stretches across many government agencies, the main uniting goal in each of them is to protect the United States and its people from harm, whether it is natural or intentional harm.

History

After the September 11th terrorist attack against the United States, President George W. Bush directed Homeland Security Advisor Tom Ridge to study the federal government as a whole to determine if the current structure was best for the security of the United States. Afterward, President Bush decided that it would be best if many government agencies were united under one department. The Department of Homeland Security was the result of this decision and a long process of reorganization that was finally completed on November 25, 2002.

Size

The Department of Homeland Security is very large and includes what used to be 22 different agencies from a variety of other federal Departments. These agencies include the Customs Service, Coast Guard, Secret Service, United States Citizenship and Immigration Service, United States Border Patrol, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, United States Federal Protective Service, Transportation Security Administration, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Office for Domestic Preparedness, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Strategic National Stockpile and the National Disaster Medical System, Nuclear Incident Response Team, Domestic Emergency Support Teams, National Domestic Preparedness Office, CBRN Countermeasures Programs, Environmental Measurements Laboratory, National BW Defense Analysis Center, Plum Island Animal Disease Center, Federal Computer Incident Response Center, National Communications System, National Infrastructure Protection Center, and the Energy Security and Assurance Program.

Benefits

Some of the benefits included with a career working for the Department of Homeland Security are a wide choice of health insurance programs, personal leave days for vacation, illness, family care, ten paid holidays per year, paid training, a fully portable Thrift Savings Plan (similar to a 401k), non-taxable Flexible Spending Accounts for out-of-pocket medical or dependent care expenses, transportation subsidies, defined benefit retirement plan, flexible work schedules, employee recognition program, life and long-term care insurance, employee assistance programs and tuition reimbursement.

Types

The types of jobs available working for the Department of Homeland Security differ greatly depending on which agency the applicant is most interested in. The available jobs include customs agents, safety and occupational health specialists, carpenters for the Coast Guard, administrative management positions for FEMA, or even investigative agents for the Secret Service. The level of variety is huge.

Warning

A survey on job satisfaction was conducted in July 2006 by the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) that included federal employees from all 36 federal agencies. The survey also discussed where the employees thought their respective agency was headed, and whether or not this was good. The Department of Homeland Security scored in either the lowest rank or close to the lowest rank on almost every question, displaying very low levels of employee morale on the job.

Resources

• Homeland Security Website
• List of Job Openings Within the Department of Homeland Security