United States Government Accountability Office

Washington, DC 20548 

 

April 5, 2007

The Honorable Robert C. Byrd 

Chairman 

The Honorable Thad Cochran 

Ranking Member 

Subcommittee on Homeland Security 

Committee on Appropriations 

United States Senate 

The Honorable David E. Price 

Chairman 

The Honorable Harold Rogers 

Ranking Member 

Subcommittee on Homeland Security 

Committee on Appropriations 

House of Representatives 

Subject: DHS Multi-Agency Operation Centers Would Benefit from Taking Further Steps to Enhance 

Collaboration and Coordination 

This letter addresses the conference report to H.R. 5441 and Senate Report 109-273, which directs GAO 

to (1) analyze the role of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) National Operations Center and 

DHS component operations centers and (2) make recommendations regarding the operation and 

coordination of these centers.1

 On March 1 and 13, 2007, we met with House and Senate Committee staff, 

respectively, to brief them on completed and ongoing GAO work that addresses these issues (see encl.). 

Both House and Senate staff agreed that this information addresses the appropriations mandates and 

their related concerns regarding DHS’s operations centers. 

We primarily relied on a prior GAO report on DHS multi-agency operations centers to satisfy these 

mandates. In our completed review, we specifically examined (1) the missions, products, functions, and 

customers of the multi-agency DHS operations centers that operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 

365 days a year (24/7/365), and (2) DHS’s implementation of key practices for enhancing and sustaining 

collaboration at these multi-agency centers.2

 We also have work underway that includes an assessment 

 1 See H.R. Rep. No. 109-699, at 123 (2006) (Conf. Rep.) (accompanying H.R. 5441, subsequently enacted into law as the

Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2007, Pub. L. No. 109-295, 120 Stat. 1355 (2006)). See also S. Rep. No. 109-

273, at 18 (2006). 

2

 GAO, Homeland Security: Opportunities Exist to Enhance Collaboration at 24/7 Operations Centers Staffed by Multiple 

DHS Agencies, GAO-07-89 (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 20, 2006). 

Page 1 GAO-07-686R DHS Multi-Agency Operation Centers 
of DHS’s plans for consolidating its real property holdings in the National Capital Region, including the 

National Operations Center and component operations centers. This letter and the accompanying 

enclosure transmit the information provided during those briefings to House and Senate staff. 

To answer our first objective, we analyzed information obtained from the responsible component

agencies and DHS’s Operations Directorate3

 on the mission and functions of all of the 24/7/365 activities 

in DHS. Our work identified a total of 20 national and 5 regional DHS centers that conduct 24/7/365 

activities. Of these, 21 centers employ staff from only one DHS agency on a regular full-time basis and 

perform agency-specific functions; therefore, we did not perform a detailed analysis of the collaboration 

and coordination practices at these centers and did not direct our recommendations to them. The four 

multi-agency operations centers in DHS that met the 24/7/365 criteria used in our study are the U.S. 

Customs and Border Protection’s Air and Marine Operations Center and National Targeting Center, the 

Transportation Security Administration’s Transportation Security Operations Center, and the National 

Operations Center-Interagency Watch (previously the Homeland Security Operations Center). We visited 

all four multi-agency centers, as well as centers operated by other component agencies,4

 to observe their 

operations, interview officials responsible for managing the centers, and identify centers that employed 

staff from multiple DHS agencies. From the four multi-agency centers, we obtained additional 

information on both the products the centers regularly developed and their primary customers. We also 

interviewed several staff assigned to centers from participating DHS component agencies—referred to 

as watchstanders—to discuss their roles and responsibilities at the centers and the overall mission of the 

centers to which they had been assigned. 

To answer our second objective, we reviewed transition, management integration, and planning and 

policy documents, as well as strategic plans, annual performance reports, and planning documents from 

DHS and its component agencies. We met with the acting director and other responsible officials from 

the Operations Directorate to discuss its role and responsibilities. We also reviewed and analyzed the 

results of studies undertaken by DHS to assess and improve coordination and collaboration at the multiagency centers. We examined reports from GAO, the Congressional Research Service, the DHS Office of 

Inspector General, and others that addressed the integration, coordination, and collaboration of 

departmentwide program functions. We then assessed DHS’s efforts related to integration, coordination, 

and collaboration at the multi-agency centers to determine the extent to which they reflect DHS’s 

application of the key practices we have found to help enhance and sustain collaboration among federal 

agencies and be at the center of successful mergers and transformations.5

We conducted our work from October 2005 through September 2006 in accordance with generally 

accepted government auditing standards. 

Summary 

The four multi-agency operations centers each have their own mission and generate different products 

while performing some similar functions and sharing a number of customers. 

 3

 DHS established the Operations Directorate in November 2005 to improve operational efficiency and coordination. 

4

These other components include the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the U.S. Secret 

Service. 

5

 GAO, Results-Oriented Government: Practices That Can Help Enhance and Sustain Collaboration among Federal Agencies, 

GAO-06-15 (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 21, 2005). 

Page 2 GAO-07-686R DHS Multi-Agency Operation Centers 
• The missions of the Air and Marine Operations Center, National Targeting Center, and Transportation 

Security Operations Center are distinctive and tactical, including such activities as monitoring the 

nation’s airspace, including such activities as monitoring the nation’s airspace, the movement of 

potential terrorists, and the passengers on commercial flights. The National Operations CenterInteragency Watch’s mission is more strategic in that it collects information gathered by the other 

multi-agency operations centers and provides a national perspective on situational awareness for 

potential terrorist activity. 

• The products of the four multi-agency operations centers reflect their different missions and range 

from reports on suspicious private air and marine craft from the Air and Marine Operations Center, 

individuals entering the country at land, sea, and airports from the National Targeting Center, and 

individuals traveling on commercial flights from the Transportation Security Operations Center, to an 

overview of the national threat environment from the National Operations Center-Interagency Watch. 

• The multi-agency operations centers all share common functions such as maintaining situational 

awareness, sharing information, and communications; coordinating internal operations, and 

coordinating among federal, state, local, tribal, and private-sector entities; and managing incidents 

and making decisions. In addition, the Air and Marine Operations Center and National Operations

Center-Interagency Watch conduct operational command and control and, along with the National 

Targeting Center, coordinate with foreign governments. 

• The four multi-agency operations centers’ primary customers include other federal agencies, and

state and local governments; private-sector entities; and some foreign governments. 

DHS has leveraged its resources—one key collaborative practice—by having staff from multiple 

agencies work together at the four operations centers. However, DHS could further implement this and 

other relevant practices previous GAO work has identified as important to enhancing and sustaining 

collaboration among federal agencies and improving agency performance. Without implementing these 

practices, DHS’s operations centers may not be collaborating as effectively as they could. Given that the 

collaboration in multi-agency operations centers focuses on gathering and disseminating information on 

real-time situational awareness related to disasters and possible terrorist activity, it is important that the 

staff at the centers achieve the most effective collaboration possible. 

The following information outlines in more detail the extent to which multi-agency centers have 

implemented the collaboration and coordination practices we identified to enhance their effectiveness. 

Specifically, not all of the components responsible for managing the operation centers have 

• established goals to define and articulate a common outcome and mutually reinforcing or joint 

strategies for collaboration (related to two of our key practices); 

• assessed staffing needs to leverage resources; 

• defined roles and responsibilities of watchstanders from agencies other than the managing one; 

• applied standards, policies, and procedures for DHS’s information-sharing network to provide a 

means to operate across agency boundaries; 

• prepared mechanisms to monitor, evaluate, and report on results of the operations centers to 

reinforce collaborative efforts; and 

• reinforced agency accountability for collaboration efforts through agency plans and reports. 

Page 3 GAO-07-686R DHS Multi-Agency Operation Centers 
For example, some DHS components have established a variety of internal and external working 

agreements, memorandums, and in the case of the Joint Field Offices,6

 standard operating procedures. 

However, DHS’s Operations Directorate, which is responsible for coordinating operations, had not

provided guidance on how and when such agreements should be used to improve collaboration among 

the sponsoring and participating components at the operations centers we reviewed. Nor had any of 

these centers documented goals or joint strategies using these or other types of agreements. Without 

having a documented joint strategy for collaboration, there is a risk that center staff monitoring potential 

terrorist activities may not operate in the most collaborative manner. 

DHS had also not assessed staffing needs to leverage resources and help ensure that there are enough 

watchstanders, who occupy the primary positions at the multi-agency operations centers, to conduct 

surveillance activities. While three of the four multi-agency operations centers had developed 

descriptions for the watchstander position staffed by their own agency, only one center—the Air and 

Marine Operations Center—had also developed a position description for staff assigned to the center 

from another DHS agency. The other centers relied on the components providing staff to define their 

watchstanders’ roles and responsibilities. Lack of a consistent definition for the watchstander position 

may lead to people at the same center in the same role performing the same responsibilities differently 

or not at all. Because of the potentially critical, time-sensitive need for decisive action at 24/7/365 

operations centers, it is important that the roles and responsibilities of watchstanders are described and 

understood by both the staff and the officials responsible for managing the operations centers. 

In another example, DHS had not provided the standards, policies, and procedures for the use of its 

Homeland Security Information Network, its primary information-sharing tool. Without the application 

of the standards, policies, and procedures, users were unsure of how to use the network and, therefore, 

did not maximize the operation centers’ capacity for sharing security-related information. 

In terms of monitoring, evaluating, and reporting the results of joint efforts at the multi-agency

operations centers, in January 2004, the Air and Marine Operations Center began collecting data to

measure productivity, but had not yet evaluated efforts, and the rest of the multi- agency centers have 

not developed any methods for evaluating and reporting results. 

Finally, neither DHS nor the multi-agency operations centers have reinforced accountability for 

collaborative efforts through joint agency planning and reporting. Such public accounting through 

published strategic and annual performance plans and reports makes agencies answerable for 

collaboration results. 

The Operations Directorate, established in November 2005 to improve operational efficiency and 

coordination, provides DHS with an opportunity to more fully implement the key practices that are 

important to enhancing and sustaining collaboration at its multi-agency operations centers. Although the 

Operations Directorate does not possess administrative, budgetary, or operational control over the other 

component’s operations centers, guidance from the Operations Directorate could help the other 

components responsible for the 24/7/365 multi-agency operations centers make key advances in each 

collaborative practice. 

 6

 The JFO is a temporary federal multi-agency coordination center established locally to facilitate field-level domestic incident 

management activities related to prevention, preparedness, response and recovery. 

Page 4 GAO-07-686R DHS Multi-Agency Operation Centers 
To enhance collaboration at 24/7/365 operations centers staffed by multiple components, we 

recommended that the Director of the Operations Directorate should develop and provide guidance as 

well as help to ensure the component agencies take the following six actions: 

• define common goals and joint strategies; 

• conduct staffing needs assessments; 

• clarify the roles and responsibilities of staff known as watchstanders; 

• implement standards, policies, and procedures for using DHS’s information network to provide a 

means of operating across agency boundaries; 

• implement mechanisms to monitor, evaluate, and report on the results of collaborative efforts; and 

• address collaborative efforts at the four multi-agency operations centers in plans and reports. 

In reviewing a draft of the report in 2006, DHS agreed with the recommended actions to enhance 

collaboration at the DHS multi-agency operations centers. Among other things, DHS noted plans to

conduct an independent study in September 2006, to leverage technical and analytical expertise to 

support expanding the capabilities of the Operations Directorate. In addition, DHS said it planned to 

move elements of the National Operations Center to the Transportation Security Operations Center 

(TSOC) in 2007 and, ultimately to collocate the DHS headquarters, and all the DHS component 

headquarters along with their respective staffs and operations centers, at one location. Since our report 

was issued, DHS has taken additional steps toward these objectives. We agreed that these leadership 

efforts provided by the Operations Directorate could further enhance collaboration among DHS’s 

component agencies, along with the key practices suggested by our review of collaboration practices 

among agencies across the federal government. 

If your office or staff has any questions concerning this report, please contact me at (202) 512-6510 or by 

e-mail at Larencee@gao.gov. 

Eileen Larence 

Director, Homeland Security and Justice Issues 

Enclosure 

Page 5 GAO-07-686R DHS Multi-Agency Operation Centers 
Enclosure: Briefing Slides 

Page 6 GAO-07-686R DHS Multi-Agency Operation Centers 

Enclosure: Briefing Slides 

1

Department of Homeland Security: 

Coordination of Operations Centers 

Briefing for House and Senate 

Appropriations Committees
Enclosure: Briefing Slides 

Page 7 GAO-07-686R DHS Multi-Agency Operation Centers 

2

Contents

• Mandates

• Completed and Ongoing GAO Reviews

• DHS Plans for Consolidating Facilities

• National Operations Center’s Role and Mission

• Component Operations Centers’ Roles and Missions
Enclosure: Briefing Slides 

Page 8 GAO-07-686R DHS Multi-Agency Operation Centers 

3

Mandates

Congressional Report Language

 H.R. Rep. No. 109-699 (Conf. Rep.) and S. Rep. No. 109-

273 direct GAO to

1. analyze the role of the National Operations Center

(previously the Homeland Security Operations Center) 

and the numerous DHS component operations centers 

and 

2. make recommendations regarding the operation and 

coordination of these centers.
Enclosure: Briefing Slides 

Page 9 GAO-07-686R DHS Multi-Agency Operation Centers 

4

Mandates (cont.)

Additional Areas of Interest

• In November 2006, House and Senate appropriations staff 

identified additional areas of interest: 

• the number of current “Headquarters Centers” (as opposed 

to the local or regional component centers);

• the roles of the centers, and any overlap/duplication of 

responsibilities and functions; and 

• the “St. Elizabeth’s plan” by which DHS hopes to

consolidate centers into the National Operations Center 

(NOC).
Enclosure: Briefing Slides 

Page 10 GAO-07-686R DHS Multi-Agency Operation Centers 

5

Completed and Ongoing GAO Reviews

• Work GAO performed for the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental

Affairs Committee addresses some of the issues cited in mandate language 

and areas of interest cited in discussions with appropriations staff.

• Completed Work: Homeland Security: Opportunities Exist to Enhance 

Collaboration at 24/7 Operations Centers Staffed by Multiple DHS Agencies, GAO-07-89, October 2006 

• addresses mandate questions regarding the role of the national and 

component operations centers and staff interest in the number of centers, and

• partially addresses mandate request for recommendations regarding the 

operation and coordination of these centers and staff interest in overlap of

responsibilities and functions (report focuses on 4 of the 21 operations

centers).
Enclosure: Briefing Slides 

Page 11 GAO-07-686R DHS Multi-Agency Operation Centers 

6

Completed and Ongoing GAO Reviews

(cont.)

• Work currently underway for the Senate Homeland Security and

Governmental Affairs Committee addresses some of the issues cited in

mandate language and areas of interest cited in subsequent 

discussions with appropriations staff.

• GAO Review of DHS Real Property Management and Security, code

543163 (planned issuance date May 2007)

• addresses staff interest in the “St. Elizabeth’s plan” by which DHS

hopes to consolidate centers into the National Operations Center

and 

• partially addresses mandate request for recommendations

regarding the coordination of these centers.
Enclosure: Briefing Slides 

Page 12 GAO-07-686R DHS Multi-Agency Operation Centers 

7

Completed and Ongoing GAO Reviews

Completed Review: GAO-07-89 

Objectives and Scope

• Homeland Security: Opportunities Exist to Enhance Collaboration at 24/7

Operations Centers Staffed by Multiple DHS Agencies

• Objectives: 

• What are the missions, products, and functions of the multi-agency 24/7/365 DHS operations centers and who are their customers? 

• To what extent has DHS implemented key practices for enhancing and sustaining collaboration at these multi-agency centers?

• Scope

• Used 24/7/365 operations to define universe

• Identified a total of 20 national and 5 regional DHS centers that 

conduct 24/7/365 activities. Of these, 21 centers employ staff from

only one DHS agency on a regular full-time basis and perform

agency-specific functions.

• Focused our analysis on the 4 centers staffed by more than 1 DHS

component.
Enclosure: Briefing Slides 

Page 13 GAO-07-686R DHS Multi-Agency Operation Centers 

8

Ongoing and Completed GAO Reviews

Completed Review: GAO-07-89 

Methodology

• Methodology

• Interviewed officials from DHS’s Operations Directorate and 

other 4 multi-agency centers

• Reviewed

• transition, management integration, and planning and policy

documents;

• information on missions, products, functions, and customers;

• strategic plans and annual performance reports and 

planning documents from DHS and its component agencies;

and 

• studies that addressed the integration, coordination, and 

collaboration of department wide program functions.
Enclosure: Briefing Slides 

Page 14 GAO-07-686R DHS Multi-Agency Operation Centers 

9

Ongoing and Completed GAO Reviews

Completed Review: GAO-07-89 

Findings

Findings

The four multi-agency operations centers each have their own mission and generate different 

products while performing some similar functions and sharing a number of customers.

• Missions:

• The missions of CBP’s Air and Marine Operations Center (AMOC) and National Targeting Center (NTC), and TSA’s Transportation Security Operations Center (TSOC) are tactical, including such activities as monitoring the nation’s airspace, the movement of potential

terrorists, and the passengers on commercial flights, respectively.

• The National Operations Center (NOC-Watch) mission is more strategic in that it collects

information gathered by the other multi-agency operations centers and provides a national

perspective on situational awareness for potential terrorist activity.

• Products: The products of the four multi-agency operations centers reflect their different missions 

and range from reports on suspicious private air and marine craft from the AMOC, individuals

entering the country at land, sea and airports from the NTC, and individuals traveling on

commercial flights from the TSOC, to an overview of the national threat environment from the 

NOC-Watch.
Enclosure: Briefing Slides 

Page 15 GAO-07-686R DHS Multi-Agency Operation Centers 

10

Ongoing and Completed GAO Reviews

Completed Review: GAO-07-89 

Findings (cont.)

Findings

• Functions: The multi-agency operations centers all share common functions such as

maintaining situational awareness, information sharing and communications;

coordinating internal operations, and coordinating among federal, state, local, tribal,

and private-sector entities; and managing incidents and making decisions. In

addition, the AMOC and NOC-Watch exercise operational command and control

and, along with the NTC, coordinate with foreign governments.

• Customers: The four multi-agency operations centers’ primary customers include

federal, state, and local governments; private-sector entities; and some foreign 

governments.
Enclosure: Briefing Slides 

Page 16 GAO-07-686R DHS Multi-Agency Operation Centers 

11

Ongoing and Completed GAO Reviews

Completed Review: GAO-07-89 

Recommendations

Recommendations

• To enhance collaboration at 24/7 operations centers staffed by multiple components, the

Director of the Operations Directorate should develop and provide guidance and help to

ensure the component agencies take the following six actions: 

(1) define common goals and joint strategies; 

(2) clarify the roles and responsibilities of staff known as watchstanders; 

(3) implement compatible standards, policies, and procedures for using DHS’s information network to

provide a means of operating across agency boundaries; 

(4) conduct staffing needs assessments; 

(5) implement mechanisms to monitor, evaluate, and report on the results of collaborative efforts; and 

(6) address collaborative efforts at the four multi-agency operations centers in plans and reports on the level

of each operation center’s managing agency. 
Enclosure: Briefing Slides 

Page 17 GAO-07-686R DHS Multi-Agency Operation Centers 

12

Ongoing and Completed GAO Reviews

Ongoing Review of DHS Real Property Management

Objectives

• GAO Review: DHS Real Property Management and 

Security

• Objectives

(1) What is the profile of DHS real property portfolio, including the total 

number of properties and the number of owned versus leased properties?

(2) What actions has DHS taken to strategically manage its real property

assets and ensure that they are aligned to its mission? 

(3) What plans, if any, does DHS have to consolidate its headquarters in

Washington, D.C.? 

(4) What actions has DHS taken to ensure the physical security of its

facilities?
Enclosure: Briefing Slides 

Page 18 GAO-07-686R DHS Multi-Agency Operation Centers 

13

Ongoing and Completed GAO Reviews

Ongoing Review of DHS Real Property Management

Scope and Methodology

• GAO Review: DHS Real Property Management and Security

• Scope and Methodology

(1) To profile DHS's real property portfolio, we will rely on data in DHS's real 

property portfolio database, data in the General Service Administration’s (GSA) Federal Real Property Profile, and interviews with DHS and GSA 

real property data officials.

(2) To evaluate DHS's real property management efforts, we will assess

actions taken with regard to the President's real property initiative and

consider related asset management principles.

(3) To determine DHS's headquarters consolidation challenges, we will 

interview DHS and GSA real property officials and stakeholders such as

the National Capital Planning Commission and DC Office of Planning. We

will also review DHS's DC area strategic housing plan and GSA's draft

Master Plan alternatives.

(4) To describe DHS's facility protection efforts, we will interview DHS and 

GSA security officials and review related documentation.
Enclosure: Briefing Slides 

Page 19 GAO-07-686R DHS Multi-Agency Operation Centers 

14

DHS Plans for Consolidating Facilities 

Housing Master Plan Excerpts

• Department of Homeland Security: National Capital Region 

Housing Master Plan, “Building a Unified Department” October 2006 (as required by H.R. Rep. No. 109-476, (2006)) 

excerpts

• “The Department proposes to secure and strengthen DHS operations by unifying our core headquarters 

facilities with those of our operating components. This 

consolidated facility would be located at the St. Elizabeth’s West Campus.”

• “To support the incident management and command-andcontrol requirements of our mission, the Department 

clearly needs to consolidate executive leadership and 

operational management in a secure setting.”
Enclosure: Briefing Slides 

Page 20 GAO-07-686R DHS Multi-Agency Operation Centers 

15

DHS Plans for Consolidating Facilities

Housing Master Plan Excerpts 

(cont.)

• “...organizational benefits that can only be achieved by

collectively realigning all of our real property holdings... 

[include] an urgent need to expand the Department’s 

National Operations Center and certain intelligence 

analytic capabilities, and then to collocate them as close 

as possible with various operations centers and 

intelligence analytic capabilities currently maintained by 

DHS’s seven operating components at diverse 

locations.... Integration will bring significant operational 

discipline and improved capability.”
Enclosure: Briefing Slides 

Page 21 GAO-07-686R DHS Multi-Agency Operation Centers 

16

DHS Plans for Consolidating Facilities 

2008 Congressional Justification Excerpts

• “...in order to truly consolidate the Department’s headquarters

functions in addition to the front offices of its component 

agencies to realize a “One-DHS,” DHS seeks to re-locate most

of its headquarters operations to the St. Elizabeth’s West

Campus.”

• “Base level funding for the DHS Consolidated Campus initiative

at St. Elizabeth’s is $120 million... DHS did not receive any funding for this project in the DHS FY 2007 Appropriations

bill....”

• “Without the additional funds to construct a consolidated secure

DHS Campus, the Department will continue to sub-optimize

performance because of ineffective and inefficient facilities that 

adversely impact coordination, communication and cooperation 

among all DHS components.”
Enclosure: Briefing Slides 

Page 22 GAO-07-686R DHS Multi-Agency Operation Centers 

17

National Operations Center’s Role and Mission

• The National Operations Center incorporates the 24/7/365 National Operations

Center-Interagency Watch (NOC-Watch), the Office of Intelligence and Analysis, the

Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Response Coordination Center, and an office called the Planning Element. The National Operations Center also

shares responsibility for the National Infrastructure Coordination Center which is co- located and integrated as a watch function at the Transportation Security Operations

Center. 

• Prior to May 25, 2006, the NOC-Watch was analogous to the Homeland Security Operations Center. The Interagency Watch also incorporates staff from DHS’s

Offices of Information & Analysis, Infrastructure Protection, and Incident

Management Division, as well as a variety of other DHS and non-DHS organizations.

• The NOC-Watch is to act as the primary national-level hub for domestic situational 

awareness, common operating picture, combining and sharing of information,

communications, and operations coordination pertaining to the prevention of terrorist

attacks and domestic incident management by facilitating information sharing with

other federal, state, local, tribal, and nongovernmental emergency operations

centers; and by fusing law enforcement, national intelligence, emergency response, and private-sector reporting.
Enclosure: Briefing Slides 

Page 23 GAO-07-686R DHS Multi-Agency Operation Centers 

18

National Operations Center’s Role and Mission

(cont.)

• To enhance coordination among the components, a February 1, 

2007, DHS Policy for Internal Information Exchange and Sharing

requires that all homeland security information be coordinated 

through the National Operations Center’s Office of Intelligence and 

Analysis, specifically: 

• “that each component conduct an immediate review of its 

existing information-handling procedures and ensure that

appropriate mechanisms are in place to provide the 

Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) with access to all

potential terrorism, homeland security, law enforcement,

and related information....” 
Enclosure: Briefing Slides 

Page 24 GAO-07-686R DHS Multi-Agency Operation Centers 

19

Component Operations Centers’ Roles and Missions 

Other DHS HQ Operations Centers

• The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team

(US-CERT) coordinates defense against and responses to 

cyber attacks across the nation. Specifically, US-CERT is

responsible for 

• analyzing and reducing cyber threats and vulnerabilities; 

• disseminating cyber threat warning information; and 

• coordinating incident response activities by working with 

federal agencies, industry, the research community, state 

and local governments, and others to disseminate cyber

security information to the public. 
Enclosure: Briefing Slides 

Page 25 GAO-07-686R DHS Multi-Agency Operation Centers 

20

Component Operations Centers’ Roles and Missions 

Other DHS HQ Operations Centers

(cont.)

• National Coordinating Center for Telecommunications

assists in the initiation, coordination, restoration, and 

reconstitution of national security and emergency preparedness

telecommunications services or facilities. During emergencies,

staff

• assess anticipated/actual damage,

• identify national security and/or emergency preparedness

service requirements,

• prioritize requirements,

• monitor the developing situation/response, and

• coordinate service provisioning and restoration as required.
Enclosure: Briefing Slides 

Page 26 GAO-07-686R DHS Multi-Agency Operation Centers 

21

Component Operations Centers’ Roles and Missions 

TSA

• Transportation Security Administration (TSA)

• TSA Office of Intelligence provides warning and intelligence analysis to inform

field operators, industry, and TSA leadership and serves as a liaison between 

the intelligence community and the air carriers who use the terrorist watch list

information in their prescreening of passengers. Specifically, the Office of

Intelligence

• receives watch list data from the Terrorist Screening Center,

• prepares it for distribution to the air carriers, and

• sends it to the Transportation Security Operations Center. 

• Federal Air Marshal Service, Mission Operations Control Center provides

support for scheduling, law enforcement situations, crisis management, and 

safety and security- related matters. Specifically, the center 

• controls daily operations,

• tracks federal air marshal teams worldwide,

• provides guidance to federal air marshal to help resolve incidents, and

• monitors ongoing missions.
Enclosure: Briefing Slides 

Page 27 GAO-07-686R DHS Multi-Agency Operation Centers 

22

Component Operations Centers’ Roles and Missions

CBP

• Customs and Border Protection (CBP)

• Situation Room provides information on significant incidents from

field and sector offices, providing situational awareness to the

Commissioner and senior CBP management. Specifically, staff

• collect and verify information, 

• provide a central contact point for field personnel, and

• ensure accurate information gets to CBP leadership.

• National Law Enforcement Communications Center monitors radio 

communications among CBP personnel for officer safety purposes, and to coordinate tactical communications and analytical investigative 

support to various DHS and other law enforcement agencies to

support homeland security. Center staff also

• design, install, and maintain networks for tactical communications

and all classified messages and 

• oversee all CBP communications security. 
Enclosure: Briefing Slides 

Page 28 GAO-07-686R DHS Multi-Agency Operation Centers 

23

Component Operations Centers’ Roles and Missions

ICE 

• Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

• ICE Operations Center provides senior management with daily reports and 

coordination on all significant incidents, events, and matters that have an 

impact on the mission of ICE and DHS.

• ICE Intelligence Watch provides timely, effective classified intelligence support 

to ICE headquarters and field personnel by serving as a clearinghouse for the

screening, evaluation, processing, exploitation, dissemination, and coordination 

of intelligence information.

• Law Enforcement Support Center provides timely immigration status and 

identification information to federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies

on aliens suspected, arrested, or convicted of criminal activity.
Enclosure: Briefing Slides 

Page 29 GAO-07-686R DHS Multi-Agency Operation Centers 

24

Component Operations Centers’ Roles and Missions

FEMA and Secret Service 

• Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

• National Response Coordination Center maintains national situational 

awareness and monitors emerging incidents or potential incidents with possible

operational consequences (Incorporated into the NOC)

• FEMA Operations Center facilitates, in coordination with the NOC, the

distribution of warnings, alerts, and bulletins to the entire emergency 

management community using a variety of communications systems.

• United States Secret Service (USSS)

• Joint Operations Center provides command, control, communication, and 

monitoring for ensuring the security of the White House complex and

surrounding grounds.

• Intelligence Division Duty Desk coordinates communications for the receipt, coordination, and dissemination of protective intelligence information and 

activities that require immediate action in support of protection assignments.
Enclosure: Briefing Slides 

Page 30 GAO-07-686R DHS Multi-Agency Operation Centers 

25

Component Operations Centers’ Roles and Missions

Coast Guard 

• United States Coast Guard (USCG)

• U.S. Coast Guard Command Center gathers, coordinates, and disseminates 

information as the primary communications link of priority operational and 

administrative matters between USCG field units, District and Area 

Commanders, senior Coast Guard officials, DHS officials, the White House,

other federal agencies, state and local officials, and foreign governments.

• Intelligence Coordination Center (collocated at Command Center) nationallevel coordination for collection, analysis, production, and dissemination of

Coast Guard intelligence.

• National Response Center serves as the single federal point of contact for all

pollution incident reporting and a communications center in receiving,

evaluating, and relaying information to predesignated federal responders, and 

advises FEMA of potential major disaster situations.

(440579)