Homeland Security
Do [you] want the truth to it all from someone on the inside? Nothing. It does nothing and is nothing. A complete waste of money.
That always struck me as one of the more random comments this blog, regarding the doings of the Department of Homeland Security. Random in its claim of “inside” information, without any particular reason to either believe or not believe that.
Just days before the sixth anniversary of September 11, congressional auditors are giving mixed grades to the Department of Homeland Security on its efforts to unify 22 agencies into one department and other goals.
The 320-page report from the Government Accountability Office, which will be presented to Congress on Thursday, finds that the DHS has made progress in many areas, but has failed at major management functions.
The DHS was created in 2003 by the Bush administration following the 9/11 attacks “to provide the unifying core for the vast national network of organizations and institutions involved in efforts to secure our nation.”
The report compiles other studies by GAO, the non-partisan research arm of Congress, and contains detailed analysis of the DHS’s progress in meeting 171 performance goals.
Although DHS has been developing programs in its mission areas, such as protecting the U.S. border, it has had trouble putting them into action, the accountability office report says.
I think I regarded The Department of Homeland Security as a lot of box moving, which may or may not be good or bad — but wasn’t an elixir. Watching dispatches from “Homeland Security”, all I can really figure is that as a government agency, it’s been treatable as any government agency — an opportunity for pork for Congressional election and coffer purposes; an agency for the Executive Branch to utilize for political ends.
Here is a breakdown of the report card:
Substantial progress
Moderate progress
Modest progress:
Limited progress:
On the other hand, they are right on new Bin Laden tapes. His beard is black.