West Virginia agency renamed Department of Homeland Security

West Virginia’s Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety now has a shorter, different name and a few other internal changes under a new state law.

The department said it will be called the West Virginia Department of Homeland Security under a law pushed by Gov. Jim Justice that took effect Thursday.

The law establishes the West Virginia National Guard as a separate entity within the governor’s cabinet. Other agencies that had been with the department will remain there, with some internal changes.

The department was initially organized as the Department of Public Safety in 1989. It added Military Affairs to its name in 1992.

The remaining agencies under the department will include State Police; the Division of Administrative Services; the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation; the Parole Board; the West Virginia Fusion Center; and the Division of Protective Services, also known as the Capitol Police.