(Washington, D.C.) – The nation’s premier taxpayer watchdog group, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today expressed concern over the lack of oversight and potential mismanagement of funds at the $41 billion Department of Homeland Security (DHS). 

Established in 2003 in the aftermath of the attack of September 11, 2001, DHS is an amalgamation of 22 different federal agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Transportation Security Administration.  The Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Friday released a report on a disturbing lack of oversight over DHS’s major acquisitions, defined by GAO as any investment carrying an overall price tag of $50 million or above for noninformation technology and $100 million for information technology.  In FY 2007, DHS obligated $12 billion for various acquisitions to support its mission, including U.S. Coast Guard ships, nuclear detection equipment, systems to track human resources and financial information at ICE.  

Just days prior to Friday’s release, GAO distributed another report on weaknesses associated with DHS’s workforce management.  For example, many of the agency’s plans for identifying and hiring the right people to handle its major investments are not functional or are behind schedule.  DHS has not been able to craft usable performance goals and has not been able to quantifying what resources will be needed to implement acquisitions programs.  GAO does not believe that the agency is “in a sound position” to oversee the identification and recruitment of the right workforce.  Over the 5-year life of the agency, GAO has issued more than 100 reports detailing management deficiencies at DHS.      

“The DHS has been a troubled agency for the moment of its inceptions in 2003.  Here we are, 5 years later and taxpayers still cannot have confidence that their tax dollars are being spent wisely and that they are being adequately protected,” said CAGW President Tom Schatz. 

GAO found that DHS is failing to ensure that its two acquisition oversight bodies, the Investment Review Board (IRB) and the Joint Requirement Council (JRC) are carrying out their oversight responsibilities and had adequate resources to do so.  Because of that, GAO found that 45 of the 48 major investment programs it reviewed had not been properly assessed and some were behind schedule, over budget, and demonstrated performance shortfalls.  The Office of Management and Budget has placed many of DHS’s programs on its Management Watch List, describing them as poorly planned and poorly performing.        

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.