The usefulness of a Department of Homeland Security, however, wasn’t always taken for granted. President George W. Bush’s administration initially had “zero interest” in creating a new department to protect against terrorism, The Washington Post previously reported. Vice President Richard B. Cheney thought it would needlessly increase the size of government.

“Creating a Cabinet post doesn’t solve the problem,” White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said in March 2002, according to The Post.