Policy

What's 'Homeland Security'? The Government Doesn't Know.

The Congressional Research Service says there's no actual agreed-upon definition

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What is "homeland security?" The federal bureaucracy doesn't know, and that's problematic for a government that has been fighting the ill-defined "war on terror" following 9/11, according to a new report from the Congressional Research Service.

In short, "homeland security" is whatever the government says it is.

Thirty federal entities — among them agriculture, education, labor, treasury and social security — are receiving "homeland security" funding. The actual Department of Homeland Security, created in the aftermath of 9/11, receives 52 percent of the "homeland security" money pie, according to the Tuesday report.