In the U.S. government undertook a comprehensive and costly restructuring of counter-terrorism and related security and policing efforts. Less than one month after 9/11, on October 8, 2001,President Bush issued an executive order creating a new cabinet position within the executive branch, the Director of Homeland Security, to which Bush appointed former governor of Pennsylvania Tom Ridge. U.S. Congress moved swiftly to back the President and supported the reshaping of the Office of Homeland Security into a full-fledged Department. After initial debates in January 2002,Congress passed the Homeland Security Act on November 25,2002, creating the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Tom Ridge served as Homeland Security Secretary until February 15,2005, when former federal prosecutor Michael Chertoff was sworn in as the Department’s second Secretary. The Department comprises some 180,000 employees and melds over thirty federal agencies.On October 1, 2003, when President Bush signed the new Homeland Security Appropriations Bill, the DHS budget for fiscal year 2004 was $37.6 billion (The White House Press Secretary,2003).
