Ah c'mon. All what was needed is shared database. Instead we created monster Stalin could be proud of.
There is ALOT more to it than that. Trust me. We had "shared" data bases before and they didn't work. Care to take a guess as to why? Politics. Every former dept and agency HAD to have their very own software systems and communications systems to "protect" their individual budget. They could ALL claim, well we are the ONLY ones who use this system and it works great for "us" so we need more money to manage and expand "our" systems.
HUGE waste of time and money. Now that everyone is under the same roof, so to speak, everyone is having to change to a common system, and with that common system now in place someone in the Coast Guard can send an e-mail to someone in Customs, or Imigration, and it's all done on the same network, in house, and it's fast.
I konw because the last command I was at did a ton of R&D for the new computer system and SATCOM systems for the entire dept.
Case in point. Katrina. 2 days before the storm hit NOLA, FEMA realized they didn't have enough experianced SATCOM techs to handle the job of setting up emergancy communications. At my command the CO recieved an internal e-mail from the communications director at FEMA requesting personel to help them out. 2 hours latter I had typed orders in hand for Detached Duty from my current command to the regional FEMA communications director gulf coast for an unspecified amount of time and to be ready to depart on 4 hours notice from activation of those orders.
Prior to the dept being set up that request would have taken days to process if it was even allowed to get past Coast Guard HQ.
It isn't about "just" sharing data, it's about sharing all the unique resources avaible from each agency and being able to quickly put them where they are needed, when they are needed.
And before you go off on how bad the response was after Katrina hit, remember that we couldn't move in until the Governor asked for federal assistance, days after it hit. I'm sure you've noticed that in the last several hurricans in the US the Governors have declared states of emergancy and requested federal assistance before the storms even hit. With those requirements already in place, so was the federal support.
Sorry but your theory of DHS being a monster that Stalin would be proud, and that it's a huge drain on resources, and moves too slow to do any good, doesn't stand up. You also have to consider that 80% of the members of the House and Senate agreed that the dept was a good idea and voted accourdingly.