Homeland Security and Title VI

After looking around, I just found on-line the text of the International Studies in Higher Education Act of 2003, the bill which authorizes most government spending on programs like Title VI through which students at American universities learn about the outside world. This bill is controversial because of Section VI, subsection 633 which creates the International Education Advisory Board. This new body, designed to address concerns that area studies programs too often criticize American foreign policy, has been bothering me on the grounds that government should stay as far out of higher education curricula possible.

However, in the legislation, the board will be formed in consultation with the Department of Homeland Security. Excuse me? Why does Homeland Security have a role in what is essentially a watchdog group designed to assess higher education? The Department of Education is there, but it strikes me that maybe the State Department would be a better choice, or even the Department of Defense if you want a strictly military definition of what fits the national interest.

I'd like to find a bureaucratic explanation for this, but don't see one. Right now, it sounds a tad orwellian.