A progress report on the Homeland Security Department
The Government Accountability Office issued a report Sept. 6 on the progress the Homeland Security Department has made in merging 22 disparate agencies since the department was formed more than four years ago. DHS made variable progress in several areas.
Substantial progress in:
Maritime security.
Moderate progress in:
Immigration enforcement.
Aviation security.
Surface transportation security.
Critical infrastructure protection.
Real property management.
Modest progress in:
Border security.
Immigration services.
Acquisition management.
Financial management.
Limited progress in:
Emergency preparedness and response.
Information technology management.
Human capital management.
Science and technology.
— Mary Mosquera
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Find a link to GAO’s progress report on the Homeland Security Department on FCW.com’s Download at www.fcw.com/download.
In four years, the Homeland Security Department has made progress toward its mission of making the country safer and becoming a better-managed agency, lawmakers and congressional auditors said this month.
But in a progress report, the Government Accountability Office also expressed disappointment and impatience about several long-standing shortcomings GAO said DHS officials have not addressed.
Comptroller General David Walker told senators at a recent hearing that the country is safer than it was Sept. 11, 2001, but he reported that DHS has failed to meet several significant management and security benchmarks. Walker told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that DHS has missed the mark on important goals that it should have reached.
Although DHS has taken steps to turn its 22 agencies into a functioning department, it has not begun a departmentwide transformation strategy or applied risk management in implementing its mission and management functions, Walker told the committee.
“I don’t think government spends enough time on management in mergers that can be far more complex than in the private sector,” Walker said. “You must not only have competence but continuity within and between administrations to accomplish this transformation. We have found that successful transformations of large organizations, even those faced with less strenuous reorganizations than DHS, can take at least five to seven years to achieve.”
DHS has had high turnover among its senior executives: In its four-year history, the department has had two secretaries, three deputy secretaries and two undersecretaries for management.
“Lack of continuity is a problem across government,” Walker added.
Several senators echoed Walker’s concerns about DHS. It not surprising that DHS still is a work in progress, but it needs to pick up the pace for the country to prevent terrorism and respond to emergencies and disasters, said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), ranking member of the committee.
The Sept. 6 GAO report presents performance metrics and shows how auditors rated DHS’ performance against those metrics. Collins called the report a road map for progress.
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