CBP and APHIS have taken four major steps intended to strengthen the AQI program since the transfer of responsibilities following passage of the Homeland Security Act of 2002. To date, we have not done work to assess the implementation and effectiveness of these actions. First, CBP and APHIS expanded the hours of training on agricultural issues for CBP officers, whose primary duty is customs and immigration inspection, and for CBP agriculture specialists, whose primary duty is agricultural inspection. Specifically, newly hired CBP officers receive 16 hours of training on agricultural issues, whereas before the transfer to CBP, customs inspectors received 4 hours of agricultural training, and immigration inspectors received 2 hours. CBP and APHIS also expanded agriculture training for CBP officers at their respective ports of entry to help them make better-informed decisions on agricultural items at high- volume border traffic areas. Additionally, CBP and APHIS have standardized the in-port training program and have developed a national standard for agriculture specialists with a checklist of activities for agriculture specialists to master. These activities are structured into an 8- week module on passenger inspection procedures and a 10-week module on cargo inspection procedures. Based on our survey of agriculture specialists, we estimate that 75 percent of specialists hired by CBP believe that they received sufficient training (on the job and at the Professional Development Center) to enable them to perform their agriculture inspection duties. Second, CBP and APHIS have taken steps designed to better target shipments and passengers that potentially present a high risk to U.S. agriculture. Specifically, some CBP agriculture specialists received training and were given access to CBP’s Automated Targeting System, a computer system that, among other things, is designed to focus limited inspection resources on higher-risk passengers and cargo and facilitate expedited clearance or entry for low-risk passengers and cargo. This system gives agriculture specialists detailed information from cargo manifests and other documents that shipping companies are required to submit before the ship arrives in a port to help them select high-risk cargo for inspection. CBP and APHIS headquarters personnel also use this information to identify companies that had previously violated U.S. quarantine laws. For example, according to a senior APHIS official, the two agencies used this system to help identify companies that have used seafood containers to smuggle uncooked poultry products from Asia, which are currently banned because of concerns over avian influenza. Third, CBP and APHIS established a formal assessment process intended to ensure that ports of entry carry out agricultural inspections in accordance with the agricultural quarantine inspection program’s regulations, policies, and procedures. The process, called Joint Agency Quality Assurance Reviews, covers topics such as (1) CBP coordination with other federal agencies; (2) agriculture specialist training; (3) specialist access to regulatory manuals; and (4) specialist adherence to processes for handling violations at the port, inspecting passenger baggage and vehicles, and intercepting, seizing, and disposing of confiscated materials. The reviews address best practices and deficiencies at each port and make recommendations for corrective actions to be implemented within 6 weeks. For example, regarding best practices, a review of two ports found that the placement of CBP, APHIS, and Food and Drug Administration staff in the same facility enhanced their coordination. This review also lauded their targeting of non-agricultural products that are packed with materials, such as wood, that may harbor pests or diseases that could pose a risk to U.S. agriculture. Regarding deficiencies, this review found that the number of CBP agriculture specialists in each port was insufficient, and that the specialists at one of the ports were conducting superficial inspections of commodities that should have been inspected more intensely. According to CBP, the agency took actions to correct these deficiencies, although we have not evaluated those actions. In September 2007, CBP said that the joint review team had conducted 13 reviews in fiscal years 2004 through 2006, and 7 reviews were completed or underway for fiscal year 2007. Seven additional reviews are planned for fiscal year 2008. Lastly, in May 2005, CBP required each director in its 20 district field offices to appoint an agriculture liaison, with background and experience as an agriculture specialist, to provide CBP field office directors with agriculture-related input for operational decisions and agriculture specialists with senior-level leadership. The agriculture liaisons are to, among other things, advise the director of the field office on agricultural functions; provide oversight for data management, statistical analysis, and risk management; and coordinate agriculture inspection alerts. CBP officials told us that all district field offices had established the liaison position as of January 2006. Since the creation of the position, agriculture liaisons have facilitated the dissemination of urgent alerts from APHIS to CBP. They also provide information back to APHIS. For example, following a large increase in the discovery of plant pests at a port in November 2005, the designated agriculture liaison sent notice to APHIS, which then issued alerts to other ports. APHIS and CBP subsequently identified this agriculture liaison as a contact for providing technical advice for inspecting and identifying this type of plant pest. In fiscal year 2006, we surveyed a representative sample of CBP agriculture specialists regarding their experiences and opinions since the transfer of the AQI program from APHIS to CBP. In general, the views expressed by these specialists indicate that they believe that the agricultural inspection mission has been compromised. We note that morale issues are not unexpected in a merger such as the integration of the AQI mission and staff into CBP’s primary anti-terrorism mission. GAO has previously reported on lessons learned from major private and public sector experiences with mergers that DHS could use when combining its various components into a unified department. Among other things, productivity and effectiveness often decline in the period following a merger, in part because employees often worry about their place in the new organization. Nonetheless, based on the survey results, while 86 percent of specialists reported feeling very well or somewhat prepared for their duties as an agriculture specialist, many believed that the agriculture mission had been compromised by the transfer. Specifically, 59 percent of experienced specialists indicated that they are doing either somewhat or many fewer inspections since the transfer, and 60 percent indicated that they are doing somewhat or many fewer interceptions. 63 percent of agriculture specialists believed their port did not have enough specialists to carry out agriculture-related duties. Agriculture specialists reported that they spent 62 percent of their time on agriculture inspections, whereas 35 percent of their time was spent on non-agricultural functions such as customs and immigration inspections. In addition, there appear to be morale issues based on the responses to two open-ended questions: (1) What is going well with respect to your work as an agriculture specialist? and (2) What would you like to see changed or improved with respect to your work as an agriculture specialist? Notably, the question about what needs improving generated a total of 185 pages of comments—roughly 4 times more than that generated by the responses to our question on what was going well. Further, “Nothing is going well” was the second-most frequent response to the question on what is going well. We identified common themes in the agriculture specialists’ responses to our first question about what is going well with respect to their work as an agriculture specialist. The five most common themes were: Working relationships. An estimated 18 percent of agriculture specialists cited the working relationship among agriculture specialists and CBP officers and management as positive. These specialists cited increasing respect and interest by non-specialists in the agriculture mission, and the attentiveness of CBP management to agriculture specialists’ concerns. Nothing. An estimated 13 percent of agriculture specialists reported that nothing is going well with their work. For example, some respondents noted that the agriculture inspection mission has been compromised under CBP and that agriculture specialists are no longer important or respected by management. Salary and Benefits. An estimated 10 percent of agriculture specialists expressed positive comments about their salary and benefits, with some citing increased pay under CBP, a flexible work schedule, increased overtime pay, and retirement benefits as reasons for their views. Training. An estimated 8 percent of agriculture specialists identified elements of classroom and on-the-job training as going well. Some observed that new hires are well trained and that agriculture-related classroom training at the Professional Development Center in Frederick, Maryland, is adequate for their duties. General job satisfaction. An estimated 6 percent of agriculture specialists were generally satisfied with their jobs, reporting, among other things, that they were satisfied in their working relationships with CBP management and coworkers and that they believed in the importance of their work in protecting U.S. agriculture from foreign pests and diseases. In contrast, agriculture specialists wrote nearly 4 times as much in response to our question about what they would like to see changed or improved with respect to their work as agriculture specialists. In addition, larger proportions of specialists identified each of the top five themes. Declining mission. An estimated 29 percent of agriculture specialists were concerned that the agriculture mission is declining because CBP has not given it adequate priority. Some respondents cited the increase in the number of cargo items and flights that are not inspected because of staff shortages, scheduling decisions by CBP port management, and the release of prohibited or restricted products by CBP officers. Working relationships. An estimated 29 percent of the specialists expressed concern about their working relationships with CBP officers and management. Some wrote that CBP officers at their ports view the agriculture mission as less important than CBP’s other priorities, such as counternarcotics and anti-terrorism activities. Others noted that CBP management is not interested in, and does not support, agriculture inspections. CBP chain of command. An estimated 28 percent of agriculture specialists identified problems with the CBP chain of command that impede timely actions involving high-risk interceptions, such as a lack of managers with an agriculture background and the agency’s rigid chain-of-command structure.