Does DHS have an actual job?

I take it that the job of homeland security officers is meant to have something to do with securing the homeland.

I'm not sure what that has to do with protecting federal property from bumper stickers.

...on February 7, at his day job for a federal natural resource agency, Scarbrough got a call from, of all places, Homeland Security.

An official told him to come out to the parking lot and said he was in violation of the Code of Federal Regulations.

When Scarbrough came out, he found two armed officers of Homeland Security, who told him he was violating the regulation against the posting of signs on federal property.

...the signs were really subversive, like “Honor Vets, Wage Peace,” and “Another Veteran Against War with Iraq.”

Or making sure library patrons aren't looking at porn.

Two uniformed men strolled into the main room of the Little Falls library in Bethesda one day last week and demanded the attention of all patrons using the computers. Then they made their announcement: The viewing of Internet pornography was forbidden.

The men looked stern and wore baseball caps emblazoned with the words "Homeland Security." The bizarre scene unfolded Feb. 9, leaving some residents confused and forcing county officials to explain how employees assigned to protect county buildings against terrorists came to see it as their job to police the viewing of pornography.

An excellent question! Unfortunately, as far as the article goes, it's one that has yet to be answered.

Other questions that don't get answered:

Montgomery County will not specify how many officers are in the department's security division, citing security reasons.

Entirely reasonable. We wouldn't want to jeopardize DHS operations. They're the only thing stopping Bin Laden from gaining access to the computer terminals at Montgomery County libraries, and using them to view one of those clips of Paris Hilton.

I found the conclusion to this story somewhat confusing.

Still, Montgomery plans to train its homeland security officers "so they fully understand library policy and its consistency with residents' First Amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution," Romer said in his statement.

Because a key component of homeland security is a proper understanding of library policy. It's not a problem if homeland security officers spend their time on the job not doing their jobs--they just need to not-do-their-jobs better.