Official website of the Department of Homeland Security
The Department is committed to engaging the skills, talents and experience of our nation’s veterans, through efforts to increase veteran employment opportunities, expand contracting opportunities for veteran-owned businesses, and enhance veteran engagement.
Work with Us
The Department counts 50,000 veterans – 25% of the entire Department civilian workforce – among its employees in addition to the 49,000 active duty members of the United States Coast Guard.
The Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer leads the Department's efforts in veteran recruiting including coordinating with other departments on special veteran programs. They are also responsible for training components in veteran hiring tools and developing standardized training materials for recruiters to be used by components.
Learn about finding a job at the Department.
Contract with Us
DHS awarded more than $1.4 billion in contracts to veteran owned small businesses in fiscal year 2011, meeting Secretary Napolitano’s goal of doing a billion dollars of business with veteran owned businesses for the second year in a row. In addition, approximately 4 percent of total contracting dollars in fiscal year 2011 went to service disabled veteran owned small businesses (SDVOSB) -- exceeding the Small Business Administration’s 3 percent target.
One way DHS is expanding these contracting opportunities is through use of the Program Management, Administrative, Clerical, and Technical Service (PACTS). Drawing on the services of 27 SDVOSBs, the PACTS program streamlines the procurement process and allows prescreened and preapproved SDVOSB companies to support the Department.
The Office of the Chief Procurement Officer and the Office of Small Disadvantaged Business Utilization work to ensure that Department procurement opportunities are accessible to veteran and service disabled veteran business owners. Through PACTS and other procurement programs, the Department is moving toward fulfilling important service disabled veterans procurement goals.
Learn about contracting opportunities for veterans.
Partner with Us
Given the vital role veterans play in advancing the Department of Homeland Security’s mission, the Department works every day to cultivate a stronger relationship with the veteran community.
DHS meets regularly with veteran service organizations and military service organizations to share information about how veterans can find jobs and contracting opportunities at DHS and get involved in community-based efforts. For example, DHS recently hosted representatives from veteran service organizations at DHS for a Day to provide a tour of DHS operations and discuss the Department's efforts to engage veterans across our mission areas.
Veterans are engaged in initiatives and programming throughout the Department, including FEMA’s Citizen Corps, the “If You See Something, Say Something ™” Campaign, and the Stop.Think.Connect.™ Campaign.