White House
Advising the president on homeland security matters from within the Executive Office of the President.
The Homeland Security Council (HSC) is an entity within the Executive Office of the President of the United States tasked with advising the president on matters relevant to homeland security. The current homeland security advisor is Stephen Miller. It was created by Executive Order 13228 on October 29, 2001, and subsequently expanded by Homeland Security Presidential Directive 1. The HSC served as the successor to the Office of Homeland Security, established on September 20, 2001, immediately after the September 11 attacks. Congress codified the HSC in the Homeland Security Act of 2002, charging it with advising the president on homeland security matters.
Quick Facts
- Location
- Washington, D.C., United States
Lore & Background
On February 23, 2009, the Obama administration released Presidential Study Directive 1, ordering a sixty-day interagency review of the White House homeland security and counterterrorism structure. The review recommended merging the staff supporting the Homeland Security Council with the staff supporting the National Security Council. On May 26, 2009, Barack Obama signed the recommendation to merge the HSC and NSC staffs into one national security staff. On February 10, 2014, President Obama renamed that combined staff the National Security Council (NSC) staff. Policymakers and observers have debated whether the HSC staff should remain an independent entity or be merged with the NSC staff. The HSC and NSC continue to exist by statute as independent councils of leadership advising the president.
Reader's Guide
The HSC was similar to its national security counterpart, the National Security Council, established in the National Security Act of 1947. The HSC consisted of full-time staff organized by subject areas relating to homeland security missions, with the Council itself composed of Cabinet members and senior White House officials whose departments have principal interests in homeland security policy-making. While similar in name, the Department of Homeland Security is a distinct federal executive department; unlike DHS, the HSC functions as part of the Executive Office of the President, drawing staff from across federal agencies and under the direct control of the president.
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