Research reveals that levels of reported trust in government are at a relatively low levelamong the lowest in the period studied. At the same time, reported approval for specific administrative agencies varies widely, with some agencies receiving little support and others a great deal. This raises an important question: what factors drive trust in specific agencies? This article investigates the question in relation to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). We find that reported assessments of DHS are driven by political attitudes, policy salience, religiosity, and demographic characteristics, even when controlling for trust in government in general. InTroDucTIon In a democratic society, it is essential that government maintain trust and approval from the public (e.g., Dahl 1971; Easton 1965; Putnam 2001). This is the case even for components of the government, like administrative agencies and the courts, that may not have direct electoral accountability. Questions of government approval, then, become important to research in public administration generally. This has led to a great deal of research into the factors related to trust in government, including a large literature on the impact of e-government on various evaluations of government. While most of this literature has focused on factors related to government in general or specific branches of government, there is reason to believe that there are This material is based upon work supported by the U.