dhs.gov). .
The idea of combining departments and agencies in order to better organize the Federal governments ability to prevent terrorists attacks, and to respond to national disasters, had already been discussed prior to September 11th. In 1998, the U. S. Secretary of defense created the U. S. Commission on National Security/21st Century. Its purpose was to assess global threats to domestic security functions. This assessment warned of future attacks, and recommend the creation of a new National Homeland Security Agency which would integrate many of the existing government security agencies in order to coordinate homeland security activities. The September 11th attacks prompted intense scrutiny of the federal government's efforts to prevent terrorism. Authorities were alarmed that important clues to the attacks were overlooked or never connected, and that the terrorists involved in the attacks had entered and remained in the United States without raising suspicions. The Department of Homeland Security that President Bush established in 2001 is structured very similarly to the 1998 Commission on National Security recommendations. The basic structure of the existing system, and the recommend system are the same; combining dozens of existing government agencies and placing them into one centralized department, in order to better coordinate security activities. It is hoped by our leaders and by all Americans that it will be much more difficult for terrorists to enter this country and live in it undetected for any amount of time under the careful watch of the new Homeland Security Department. .
Much progress has been made since September 11th to decrease the likelihood that the terrorists will succeed in their plans of future attacks. More than 3,000 suspected terrorists have been detained in nearly 100 nations. More than $100 million in terrorist assets worldwide have been blocked or frozen.