The Office of Health Affairs (OHA) is a component within the

United States Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the Interior minister, interior, Home Secretary ...

. OHA provides health and medical expertise in support of the department's mission to prepare for, respond to, and recover from all hazards affecting the nation’s health security. This included the execution of ″Project BioWatch″, an early warning detection network of air samplers in more than 30 US cities. The Office of Health Affairs was led by the Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Health Affairs, who also serves as the DHS chief medical officer and who is appointed by the

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

with confirmation by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

. The current assistant secretary is Katherine Brinsfield. The OHA was absorbed into the DHS Countering WMD Office in 2018.

Budget

References

External links

DHS Office of Health Affairs official website
{{U.S. biological defense Office of Health Affairs