Many Problems Still Plague Department of Homeland Security
By Adam Kredo
WASHINGTON, March 28 – Numerous organizational problems still plague the four-year-old Department of Homeland Security, expert witnesses concluded Tuesday during a House subcommittee hearing.
The Government Reform Committee’s National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4, questioned experts about a report published by Richard L. Skinner, the department’s inspector general.
“Homeland security will never be about certainties. It will be about probabilities, about risks and about choices,” Shays said, addressing the panel with a prepared statement.
Skinner’s report, filed in November following a request by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, found that two main offices within the department–Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection-had consistently failed to coordinate their efforts and share sensitive immigration and border information.
“Shortfalls in operational coordination and information sharing fostered an environment of uncertainty and mistrust” between the two offices, Skinner said at the hearing.
The hearing came as debate over immigration reforms intensifies around the country and in the Capitol. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection are mainly responsible for keeping watch on the nation’s borders.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the primary investigative branch in the Department of Homeland Security, was previously a part of the Department of Justice, but was moved in an effort to consolidate previously dispersed security functions.
The inspector general’s report made 14 recommendations to improve coordination between the agencies, but, according to Skinner, the effects have yet to be studied.
The recommendations mainly seek to increase communication between individual departments and agencies.
“If [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] needs anything, it’s stability for a period of time and leadership,” said Richard M. Stana, director of homeland security and justice issues in the Government Accountability Office. He said this could improve existing coordination problems within the agency.
“It’s very hard to break them out of their hole to do other things,” Stana said. “They have a long way to go.”
The witnesses further acknowledged several “territorial disputes” between Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the FBI. They said this is another reason for decreased productivity within Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“There is also a degree of frustration,” Stana said. “Why invest so much of our time and resources into a terrorist investigation when in the long run it’s going to be turned over to the FBI?”
Shays expressed disappointment with how long it has taken to synchronize operations within the department.
“I’m wrestling with why it has to take a long time to begin to break out of this legacy,” Shays said, referring to specific objectives and initiatives, such as drug trafficking and document fraud, that are still being pursued by the agency despite its more recent and main objective of investigating leads that pertain to national security.
According to Shays, “only a small percentage of investigative resources are focused on national security cases.”
A companion report published by the Government Accountability Office in December confirms Shays statement, stating that less than 13 percent of “investigative resources were used for investigations considered to have a link to national security.”
The panel agreed that such distractions hinder the organization’s ability to deal with issues directly pertaining to the country’s security, but they said many problems could be worked out over the next few years.
“I think the best thing we can do right now is let the agency mature,” Stana said. “Let it stabilize; it’s got new leadership, and hopefully it will be strong leadership.”
He said this could take up to seven years.
Agreeing with Stana, but taking a dimmer view of the agency’s progress, Skinner said, “I think we’re nowhere near where we should be.”
