In July 2002 President Bush issued the National Strategy for Homeland Security. The strategy set forth overall objectives to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, reduce America’s vulnerability to terrorism, and minimize the damage and assist in the recovery from attacks that occur. The strategy further identified a plan to strengthen homeland security through the cooperation and partnering of federal, state, local, and private sector organizations on an array of functions. It also specified a number of federal departments, as well as nonfederal organizations, that have important roles in securing the homeland, with DHS having key responsibilities in implementing established homeland security mission areas. This strategy was updated and reissued in October 2007. In November 2002 the Homeland Security Act of 2002 was enacted into law, creating DHS. The act defined the department’s missions to include preventing terrorist attacks within the United States; reducing U.S. vulnerability to terrorism; and minimizing the damages and assisting in the recovery from attacks that occur within the United States. The act further specified major responsibilities for the department, including the analysis of information and protection of infrastructure; development of countermeasures against chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear, and other emerging terrorist threats; securing U.S. borders and transportation systems; and organizing emergency preparedness and response efforts. DHS began operations in March 2003. Its establishment represented a fusion of 22 federal agencies to coordinate and centralize the leadership of many homeland security activities under a single department. We have evaluated many of DHS’s management functions and programs since the department’s establishment and have issued over 400 related products. In particular, in August 2007 we reported on the progress DHS had made since its inception in implementing its management and mission functions. We also reported on broad themes that have underpinned DHS’s implementation efforts, such as agency transformation, strategic planning, and risk management. Over the past 5 years, we have made approximately 900 recommendations to DHS on ways to improve operations and address key themes, such as to develop performance measures and set milestones for key programs and implement internal controls to help ensure program effectiveness. DHS has implemented some of these recommendations, taken actions to address others, and taken other steps to strengthen its mission activities and facilitate management integration. DHS has made progress in implementing its management and mission functions in the areas of acquisition, financial, human capital, information technology, and real property management; border security; immigration enforcement; immigration services; aviation, surface transportation, and maritime security; emergency preparedness and response; critical infrastructure and key resources protection; and science and technology. Overall, DHS made more progress in implementing its mission functions than its management functions, reflecting an initial focus on implementing efforts to secure the homeland. DHS has had to undertake these critical missions while also working to transform itself into a fully functioning cabinet department—a difficult undertaking for any organization and one that can take, at a minimum, 5 to 7 years to complete even under less daunting circumstances. As DHS continues to mature as an organization, we have reported that it will be important that it works to strengthen its management areas since the effectiveness of these functions will ultimately impact its ability to fulfill its mission to protect the homeland. Acquisition Management. DHS’s acquisition management efforts include managing the use of contracts to acquire goods and services needed to fulfill or support the agency’s missions, such as information systems, new technologies, aircraft, ships, and professional services. Overall, DHS has made progress in implementing a strategic sourcing program to increase the effectiveness of its buying power and in creating a small business program. However, DHS’s progress toward creating a unified acquisition organization has been hampered by various policy decisions. In September 2007 we reported on continued acquisition oversight issues at DHS, identifying that the department had not fully ensured proper oversight of its contractors providing services closely supporting inherently government functions. For example, we found that DHS program officials did not assess the risk that government decisions may be influenced by, rather than independent from, contractor judgments. Federal acquisitions policy requires enhanced oversight of contractors providing professional and management support services that can affect government decision making, support or influence policy development, or affect program management. However, most of the DHS program officials and contracting officers we spoke with were unaware of this requirement, and, in general, did not believe that their professional and management support service contracts required enhanced oversight. We made several recommendations to DHS to address these issues, including that DHS establish strategic-level guidance for determining the appropriate mix of government and contractor employees to meet mission needs; assess program office staff and expertise necessary to provide sufficient oversight of selected contractor services; and review contracts for selected services as part of the acquisition oversight program. Financial Management. DHS’s financial management efforts include consolidating or integrating component agencies’ financial management systems. In general, since its establishment, DHS has been unable to obtain an unqualified or “clean” audit opinion on its financial statements. For fiscal year 2007, the independent auditor issued a disclaimer on DHS’s financial statements and identified eight significant deficiencies in DHS’s internal controls over financial reporting, seven of which were so serious that they qualified as material weaknesses. DHS has taken steps to prepare corrective action plans for its internal control weaknesses by, for example, developing and issuing a departmentwide strategic plan for the corrective action plan process and holding workshops on corrective action plans. Until these weaknesses are resolved, DHS will not be in a position to provide reliable, timely, and useful financial data to support day-to-day decision making. Human Capital Management. DHS’s key human capital management areas include pay, performance management, classification, labor relations, adverse actions, employee appeals, and diversity management. Congress provided DHS with significant flexibility to design a modern human capital management system, and in October 2004 DHS issued its human capital strategic plan. DHS and the Office of Personnel Management jointly released the final regulations on DHS’s new human capital system in February 2005. Although DHS intended to implement the new personnel system in the summer of 2005, court decisions enjoined the department from implementing certain labor management portions of the system. DHS has since taken actions to implement its human capital system. In July 2005 DHS issued its first departmental training plan, and in April 2007, it issued its Fiscal Year 2007 and 2008 Human Capital Operational Plan. However, more work remains for DHS to fully implement its human capital system, including developing a market-based and performance-oriented pay system. corporate process for informed decision making by senior leadership about competing information technology investment options; applying system and software development and acquisition discipline and rigor when defining, designing, developing, testing, deploying, and maintaining systems; establishing a comprehensive, departmentwide information security program to protect information and systems; having sufficient people with the right knowledge, skills, and abilities to execute each of these areas now and in the future; and centralizing leadership for extending these disciplines throughout the organization with an empowered Chief Information Officer. DHS has undertaken efforts to establish and institutionalize the range of information technology management controls and capabilities noted above that our research and past work have shown are fundamental to any organization’s ability to use technology effectively to transform itself and accomplish mission goals. However, the department has significantly more to do before each of its management controls and capabilities is fully in place and is integral to how each system investment is managed. For example, in September 2007 we reported on our assessment of DHS’s information technology human capital plan. We found that DHS’s plan was largely consistent with federal guidance and associated best practices. In particular, the plan fully addressed 15 and partially addressed 12 of 27 practices set forth in the Office of Personnel Management’s human capital framework. However, we reported that DHS’s overall progress in implementing the plan had been limited. We recommended, among other things, that roles and responsibilities for implementing the information technology human capital plan and all supporting plans be clearly defined and understood. Moreover, DHS has not fully implemented a comprehensive information security program. While it has taken actions to ensure that its certification and accreditation activities are completed, the department has not shown the extent to which it has strengthened incident detection, analysis, and reporting and testing activities. Real Property Management. DHS’s responsibilities for real property management are specified in Executive Order 13327, “Federal Real Property Asset Management,” and include the establishment of a Senior Real Property Officer, development of an asset inventory, and development and implementation of an asset management plan and performance measures. In June 2006, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) upgraded DHS’s Real Property Asset Management Score from red to yellow after DHS developed an Asset Management Plan, developed a generally complete real property data inventory, submitted this inventory for inclusion in the governmentwide real property inventory database, and established performance measures consistent with Federal Real Property Council standards. DHS also designated a Senior Real Property Officer. Border Security. DHS’s border security mission includes detecting and preventing terrorists and terrorist weapons from entering the United States; facilitating the orderly and efficient flow of legitimate trade and travel; interdicting illegal drugs and other contraband; apprehending individuals who are attempting to enter the United States illegally; inspecting inbound and outbound people, vehicles, and cargo; and enforcing laws of the United States at the border. DHS has made some progress in, for example, refining the screening of foreign visitors to the United States and providing training and personnel necessary to fulfill border security missions. In particular, as of December 2006 DHS had a pre-entry screening capability in place in overseas visa issuance offices and an entry identification capability at 115 airports, 14 seaports, and 154 of 170 land ports of entry. Furthermore, in November 2007 we reported on traveler inspections at ports of entry and found that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had some success in identifying inadmissible aliens and other violators. However, we also identified weaknesses in CBP’s operations at ports of entry and have reported on challenges DHS faced in implementing its comprehensive border protection system, called SBInet, and in leveraging technology, personnel, and information to secure the border.