DHS began  operations in March 2003. A variety of factors have affected DHS’s efforts to implement its mission  and management functions. Our Report Assesses DHS’s Progress in Implementing Its Mission and Management Functions

Our report assesses DHS’s progress across 14 mission and management  areas. DHS Has Made Progress in Implementing Mission and Management Functions but Has Faced Difficulties in Its Implementation Efforts

Our report shows that since March 2003, DHS has attained some level of  progress in implementing the performance expectations in all of its major  mission and management areas, but the rate of progress among these  areas has varied. Overall, DHS has made more progress in its mission  areas than in its management areas, reflecting an understandable focus on  implementing efforts to secure the homeland. Within its mission areas, DHS has made more progress in developing  strategies, plans, and programs than in implementing them. As shown in table 5, we identified 24 performance  expectations for DHS in the area of aviation security and found that  DHS has generally achieved 17 of them and has generally not achieved  7 others. The creation of DHS is an enormous management challenge, and DHS  faces a formidable task in its transformation efforts as it works to  integrate over 170,000 federal employees from 22 component agencies. Despite these efforts, we reported earlier this year that DHS  implementation and transformation remains high-risk because DHS has  not yet developed a comprehensive management integration strategy  and its management systems and functions⎯especially related to  acquisition, financial, human capital, and information  management⎯are not yet fully integrated and wholly operational. Several  DHS component agencies have taken steps toward integrating risk- based decision making into their decision-making processes. DHS has taken some steps to  implement its information-sharing responsibilities. For example, DHS  implemented a network to share homeland security information. Concluding Observations

Given the leading role that DHS plays in securing the homeland, it is  critical that the department’s mission programs and management systems  and functions operate as efficiently and effectively as possible. In the more  than 4 years since its establishment, the department has taken important  actions to secure the border and the transportation sector and to defend  against, prepare for, and respond to threats and disasters. 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 it moves forward, DHS will continue to face the challenges that have  affected its operations thus far, including transforming into a high- performing, results-oriented agency; developing results-oriented goals and  measures to effectively assess performance; developing and implementing  a risk-based approach to guide resource decisions; and establishing  effective frameworks and mechanisms for sharing information and  coordinating with homeland security partners. While this testimony contains no new  recommendations, in past products GAO has made approximately 700  recommendations to DHS.
Why GAO Did This Study

The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) recent 4-year anniversary provides an opportunity to reflect on the progress DHS has made. The creation of DHS was one of the largest federal reorganizations in the last several decades, and GAO has reported that it was an enormous management challenge and that the size, complexity, and importance of the effort made the challenge especially daunting and critical to the nation's security. Our prior work on mergers and acquisitions has found that successful transformations of large organizations, even those faced with less strenuous reorganizations than DHS, can take at least 5 to 7 years to achieve. This testimony is based on our August 2007 report evaluating DHS's progress since March 2003. Specifically, it addresses DHS's progress across 14 mission and management areas and key themes that have affected DHS's implementation efforts.

What GAO Found

Since its establishment in March 2003, DHS has made varying levels of progress in implementing its mission and management areas, as shown in the following table. In general, DHS has made more progress in its mission areas than in its management areas. Within its mission areas, DHS has made progress in developing plans and programs, but has faced challenges in its implementation efforts. Key underlying themes have affected DHS's implementation efforts. These include strategies to achieve agency transformation, strategic planning and results management, risk management, information sharing, and partnerships and coordination. For example, we have designated DHS's implementation and transformation as high-risk. While DHS has made progress in transforming its component agencies into a fully functioning department, it has not yet addressed elements of the transformation process, such as developing a comprehensive transformation strategy. DHS also has not yet fully adopted and applied a risk management approach in implementing its mission and management functions. Some DHS component agencies have taken steps to do so, but this approach is not yet used departmentwide. In addition, DHS has taken steps to share information and coordinate with homeland security partners but has faced difficulties in these partnership efforts. Given DHS's leading role in securing the homeland, it is critical that the department's mission and management programs operate as efficiently and effectively as possible. DHS has taken important actions to secure the border and transportation sectors and to prepare for and respond to disasters. DHS has had to undertake these missions while also working to transform itself into a fully functioning cabinet department--a difficult task for any organization. As DHS moves forward, it will be important for the department to continue to develop more measurable goals to guide implementation efforts and to enable better accountability. It will also be important for DHS to continually reassess its mission and management goals, measures, and milestones to evaluate progress made, identify past and emerging obstacles, and examine alternatives to effectively address those obstacles.