The Homeland Security Department is struggling to keep tabs on its components’ disparate research programs, in part because of shoddy data management, according to an internal watchdog.
The department’s research efforts are as wide and varied as its mission—covering border security, counterterrorism, cybersecurity, emergency management, among other fields—and under the law, the Science and Technology Directorate is supposed to run the show. The directorate received more than 70% of the $2.8 billion the agency received for research between 2015 and 2018, and it’s also responsible for coordinating how other components spend the rest of the money.
But insufficient oversight and poor data management within the directorate have limited its ability to manage research efforts, while also leaving senior leaders in the dark on how the agency investing in the future, according to the Homeland Security Inspector General.
“These challenges may prevent [the directorate] from identifying duplicative [research and development] efforts, from providing the Secretary of Homeland Security and Congress with an accurate and complete profile of [research and development] initiatives, and from being able to justify funding needs for a wide range of missions,” auditors said in a report published Monday.
The directorate manages the agency’s research efforts through its Integrated Product Teams, six cross-component working groups that annually identify and prioritize areas for research investment. Components are supposed to flag such “capability gaps” for the teams, but the IG found at least two organizations—the Secret Service and the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office—failed to do so.
Auditors also found the directorate failed to fully review and approve the teams’ various operations, and also failed to ensure teams met deadlines ..
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