These documents are as  follows. DHS Planning Has Made Progress, but Opportunities for Improvement Exist

DHS has made considerable progress in its planning efforts, but future  efforts can be improved. While the  strategic plan included five of the six GPRA-required elements, it did not  describe the relationship of annual goals to long-term goals. Further, stakeholder  involvement during the planning process is important to ensure DHS’s  efforts and resources are aligned with other federal and nonfederal  partners with shared responsibility for homeland security and that they are targeted at the highest priorities. Additionally, DHS’s planning  documents describe areas where DHS needs to coordinate with  stakeholders to implement its programs, achieve its goals and objectives,  and meet its homeland security and non-homeland security  responsibilities. Stakeholder consultation  in strategic planning efforts can help create a basic understanding of the  competing demands that confront most agencies, the limited resources  available to them, and how those demands and resources require careful  and continuous balancing. Finally, DHS had limited consultation with nonfederal stakeholders, such  as state and local governments and the private sector, in its strategic  planning process. We have reported that this linkage is critical for determining  whether an agency has a clear sense of how it will assess progress toward  achieving the intended results for its long-term goals. Although the Performance  Budget Overview linked specific annual goals and performance measures  to the long-term strategic goals, not including a description of how the  annual goals relate to the long-term goals in the strategic plan makes it  difficult for DHS and its stakeholders to identify how their roles and  responsibilities contribute to DHS’s mission and potentially limits  Congress’s and other key stakeholders’ ability to assess the feasibility of  DHS’s long-term goals. Several of the GPRA-required elements addressed in DHS’s strategic plan  could be further developed through the implementation of additional good  strategic planning practices. In addition, the strategic plan generally describes strategies and  approaches to achieve the long-term strategic goals but does not include  the specific budgetary, human capital, or other resources needed. In addition, planning officials in DHS’s component agencies that address  the non-homeland security mission said these responsibilities were fairly  represented in the planning process and documents. Earlier and more comprehensive stakeholder involvement in DHS’s  planning process is perhaps the most important area for improvement. While the body of DHS’s strategic planning  documents address most of the required elements of GPRA, not having all  of the required elements in its strategic plan limits Congress’s and other key  stakeholders’ ability to assess the feasibility of DHS’s long-term goals. Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

The objectives of this report were to assess (1) the extent to which the  Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) planning process and  documents address required elements of the Government Performance and  Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) and reflect good strategic planning practices  and (2) whether DHS’s planning process and documents reflect attention to  homeland security and non-homeland security mission responsibilities.
Why GAO Did This Study

The creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was the largest government reorganization in over 50 years, involving 170,000 employees and a $40 billion budget. Given the magnitude of this effort, strategic planning is critical for DHS to ensure that it meets the nation's homeland security challenges. GAO was asked to assess the extent to which DHS's planning process and documents (1) address required elements of the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) and other good strategic planning practices and (2) reflect its homeland and non-homeland security mission responsibilities.

What GAO Found

DHS has made considerable progress in its planning efforts, releasing its first strategic plan in 2004 that details its mission and strategic goals. Nevertheless, opportunities for improvement exist. The creation of DHS brought together 22 agencies to coordinate the nation's homeland security efforts and to work with Congress and numerous other organizations, including federal agencies, state and local governments, and the private sector, to further this mission. Although DHS planning documents describe programs requiring stakeholder coordination to implement, stakeholder involvement in the planning process itself was limited. Involving stakeholders in strategic planning efforts can help create an understanding of the competing demands and limited resources, and how those demands and resources require careful and continuous balancing. As DHS updates its strategic plan, earlier and more comprehensive stakeholder consultation will help ensure that DHS's efforts and resources are targeted at the highest priorities and that the planning documents are as useful as possible to DHS and its stakeholders. While DHS's strategic plan addresses five of the six GPRA-required elements, it does not describe the relationship between annual and long-term goals. This linkage is crucial for determining whether an agency has a clear sense of how it will assess progress toward achieving the intended results for its long-term goals. While DHS's strategic planning documents address most of the required elements of GPRA, not including them in the strategic plan makes it difficult for DHS and its stakeholders to identify how their roles and responsibilities contribute to DHS's mission and potentially hinders Congress's and other key stakeholders' ability to assess the feasibility of DHS's long-term goals. Additionally, several of the GPRA-required elements addressed in the strategic plan could be further developed through the adoption of additional good strategic planning practices. For example, identifying the specific budgetary, human capital, and other resources needed to achieve its goals could demonstrate the viability of the strategies and approaches presented for achieving its long-term goals. Finally, although DHS's priority is its homeland security mission--which emphasizes deterring terrorism in the United States--DHS's planning documents clearly address its responsibility for non-homeland security mission programs as well, such as its response to natural disasters. In addition, DHS planning officials said that non-homeland security responsibilities were represented in the planning process and documents due, in part, to the commitment of top leadership.