N/A Why Not Combine Fed Agencies? N/A

[bigblockz8]

I love law enforcement and had I not have found out that I could fly, I'd wanna be a cop.

There are lots of options though and some have extremely similar purposes. The federal agencies seem to overlap and agencies have difficulty communicating, look at NSA,CIA,FBI and DHS and 9/11 (Thats a SZ topic.)

My thought is why not combine these federal law enforcement agencies? Other agencies are on here as well.

CBP, US Customs Border Protection- They are border patrol (USBP, a branch of CBP) and commonly known as "customs" (field ops) elsewhere. They seem to turn suspects over to ICE (Immigration Customs Enforcement) for processing. ICE also works with INS and takes suspects from them as well and trades suspects too. Inside of ICE is Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) which has a very similar role to the FBI and DEA. They investigate drugs,arms,human, and currency trafficking.

Combine CBP and ICE and split the HSI into a joint DEA/CBP unit only for matters involving customs. ICE becomes the enforcement arm of CBP and cuts down on paperwork. They have the same pay grades and ranks.

CBP and ICE together. CBP catches and ICE investigates and takes enforcement action. INS gives deportees (they currently do, no change.)

DEA and ATF...Take the ATF and make it a branch of the DEA. Guns and drugs= same same.Add the FDA's Office of Criminal Investigations (OCI) enforcement branch. My idea of a useful DEA:

Regulation Dept.- Only regulates legal drugs,tobacco,guns,explosives, alcohol. For the agriculture/liquor products, regulate in conjunction with the FDA and USDA. Leave the USDA's enforcement branch, too highly specialized.

Enforcement Branch- Does just that, enforces
-Narcotic Unit
-ATF Unit that enforces ATF laws
-HSI joint unit as mentioned above

United States Marshals Service (USMS)- I'd keep them as they are. They protect federal courts and transport prisoners. They also have task forces that serve warrants for many different local,state, and federal agencies. They have powers anywhere in the US and it's territories.

FBI...FBI + CIA for some matters. The CIA is too important so I'll leave them alone in a way.

Combine these two agencies. Take the FBI's anti-terrorism unit and give to the CIA as well as it's "intelligence" (funny, CIA and FBI in the same sentence as intelligence) division and only give the CIA portions pertaining to the CIA's mission. Keep the kidnapping and criminal investigation portions. Add The National Security Agency (NSA) as a subdivision to the CIA and you have a great Intelligence Agency.

TSA- I'd just outsource the less sensitive tasks to security firms,out of aviation can be given to other agencies such as Amtrak Police,CBP,USGC, or port police.(However I do plan on working for them at 18, great starting salary (not just for an 18 yr old) that will pay for IFR-Commercial AMEL and CFII and have some left for fun.)

Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS)- Part of the TSA, I'd like to separate it from a security agency, preferably giving it to the FAA but at the same time not wanting to remove it from the TSA. I'd like to see them expand and partially serve as FAA enforcers as well. They are great shots though! (Higher marksmanship required than the Secret Service)

In DC there are 1000-and-1 LE agencies.The issue with DC are the # of agencies doing the same thing. Here are some that have similar roles.

Federal Protective Service-They protect over 9,000 federal buildings. Used to be part of ICE.
U.S. Park Police, aka National Park Police- Same powers as MPD cops in DC. They also protect the president,dignitaries,etc and federal property.
US Capitol Police- They protect the Capitol along with USPP,the FPS, and SS.
District of Columbia Protective Services Police Department (PSPD)-They manage the security and law enforcement for DC government facilities.
District of Columbia Housing Authority Office of Public Safety- These guys literally stand around waiting for something to "pop off." They are posted in the worst areas of DC, if you see one, ask for directions to the nearest metro station via a well lit street. They use various assault rifles and they like Heckler & Koch MP5's.
Supreme Court of the United States Police-They protect the supreme court, 100 officers.
Federal Bureau of Investigation Police-Uniformed division of the FBI who are tasked to protect FBI facilities
United States Mint Police- Responsible for the protection of the United States Treasury and the United States Mint.
BEP Federal Police-Protects Bureau of Engraving and Printing
United States Postal Inspection Service (or USPIS) The law enforcement arm of the United States Postal Service. Its jurisdiction is defined as "crimes that may adversely affect or fraudulently use the U.S. Mail, the postal system or postal employees."

I didn't add WMATA Transit police or Washington Airport Authority Police as they are multi-state agencies that fill a unique niche, plus I'm tired.

Any thoughts on what agencies, LE or otherwise, that you would combine? FDA and USDA sound good to me.

 

[JOhnH]

I kind of like having them split up. If they were combined, there would be two possible outcomes:

it would be a huge success and we would have the single most powerful, most invasive and most terrifying law enforcement agency in the world,

Or it would be the largest cluster-**** the world has ever seen.

There might be a few shades of grey in between, but I strongly feel the latter would be the result.

I would prefer just to eliminate about half to two thirds of them. Or maybe take about half of them and convert them to border patrol. With orders to shoot to kill. If you were a sworn enemy of the United States, and you saw that our borders were sieves, why would you risk an attack on us from the outside, where we could fight back. Instead, you would merely infiltrate a few million of your followers over our bordrers. They could get free health care, food stamps, and tuition, bleeding us dry, while setting up an internal assault that would be protected by our liberal judges and administration.

Oops. This isnt' SZ is it. Perhaps I should delete this. I will see what happens.