More from the Dept. of Homeland Security website:

"What is the Mission of the New Department of Homeland Security?

The many men and women who daily protect our borders and secure our country are committed to the safety of our homeland. The new Department will help them do their jobs better with increased communication, coordination and resources. Specifically, the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will have three primary missions:

Prevent terrorist attacks within the United States,
Reduce America's vulnerability to terrorism, and
Minimize the damage from potential attacks and natural disasters.


In order to accomplish these three goals the new Department will focus on creating the new capabilities discussed in the July 2002 National Strategy for Homeland Security. The Strategy points out that today no one single government agency has homeland security as its primary mission. In fact, responsibilities for homeland security are dispersed among more than 100 different government organizations. America needs a single, unified homeland security structure that will improve protection against today's threats and be flexible enough to help meet the unknown threats of the future.

The new Department of Homeland Security, the most significant transformation of the U.S. government in over a half-century, will transform and realign the current confusing patchwork of government activities into a single department. DHS will give state and local officials one primary contact instead of many, an important advantage when it comes to matters related to training, equipment, planning, exercises and other critical homeland security needs. It will manage federal grant programs for enhancing the preparedness of firefighters, police, and emergency medical personnel. DHS will also set standards for state and local preparedness activities and equipment."

-snip-

So their role is to transform and realign the current confusing patchwork of government activities...and set standards for state and local preparedness????

Does anybody think that FEMA, a part of DHS, did a great job???

Yep, Bush's core followers, but even some of them have jumped ship {excuse the water analogy}.