The Department of Homeland Security identified six priority missions in its strategic plan for fiscal years 2023 to 2027.
The plan, published Tuesday, also outlined objectives under each mission area to guide DHS components in achieving agency goals and enhance their coordination to ensure their activities are aligned toward desired outcomes.
Mission 1: Counter Terrorism and Prevent Threats
According to DHS, the United States must remain vigilant against all forms of domestic and international terrorism despite significant progress and a diminished terrorist threat to the country, noting that homegrown violent extremists — individuals inspired by the ideologies of foreign terrorist organizations — will remain the most prominent form of international terrorism facing the homeland.
To combat terrorism, the department aims to enhance the collection, analysis and sharing of actionable intelligence and information with local and international partners and adopt emerging technologies and understand how terrorists can use them to threaten national security in preparation for potential attacks.
Mission 2: Secure and Manage Our Borders
DHS has raised concern over a significant increase in irregular migration brought about by violence, food insecurity, severe poverty, corruption, climate change, the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and dire economic conditions. The strategy indicates that transnational criminal organizations are taking advantage of the migratory flows to exploit migrants as part of a billion-dollar criminal enterprise. It highlights the importance of collaboration with law enforcement partners to disrupt the operations of such organizations and arrest the individuals involved.
While the agency tightens security at its air, land, and maritime borders to prevent unlawful entry to the country, it works to expedite legal trade and travel through various agency programs.
Mission 3: Administer the Nation’s Immigration System
Under the mission area, DHS aims to enforce U.S. immigration laws in an effective and humane manner and provide immigration benefits to eligible applicants.
The agency said it is updating the U.S. legal immigration system, which is broken and outdated and brings challenges to immigration law enforcement.
Mission 4: Secure Cyberspace and Critical Infrastructure
Amid increasing cyberthreats, DHS will continue collaborating with government and private sector partners to strengthen the security and resilience of critical infrastructure and federal civilian IT systems.
Objectives under the mission area also include assessing and countering evolving cyber and emerging technology risks and combating cybercrime. The strategy highlights the need to identify and mitigate key emerging technology risks, particularly quantum computing risks in preparation for future threats to existing encryption methods.
Mission 5: Build a Resilient Nation and Respond to Incidents
“Disruptions caused by the global forces of pandemic disease and climate change have given new impetus to building resilience to all hazards and developing new approaches to prepare for, prevent, protect against, mitigate, and if necessary, respond and recover to natural and man-made events,” the strategic plan stated.
DHS’s goals within the mission area include developing a robust response capability that matches the nature of incidents, preparing its entire workforce to execute incident response capabilities and providing communities with access to resources to support recovery after a disaster.
Mission 6: Combat Crimes of Exploitation and Protect Victims
The desired outcome of the mission area is the capability to identify crimes of exploitation and protect victims through expanded education, digital forensic technology, support services and partnerships with federal, state, local, tribal, territorial, international and private sector partners.
According to DHS, the increasing crimes of exploitation, including online child sexual exploitation and abuse, human trafficking and labor exploitation, threaten the U.S. physical and virtual borders, immigration and customs systems, and national security.
