The American Samoa governor, Togiola Tulafono, has issued an executive order establishing the American Samoa department of homeland security.
The new department will include the offices of statistics, emergency management, homeland security and criminal intelligence and drug enforcement, or OTICIDE.
The governor has appointed the executive director of OTICIDE, Tuala Mike Sala, as the interim head of the new department.
The department of homeland security will be a single state agency that will adminster programs funded by the US department of homeland security.
The governor says the creation of the new department is in response to concerns that have been outlined by the federal government.
The US department of homeland security last month froze all funding for the territorial office of homeland security citing administrative and accountability problems.
