The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is having its share of problems. Their intricate systems failed to uncover the Christmas panty bomber. Passengers are rebelling against being virtually stripped naked in order to get through security. GAO note they have not even tested these new strip-search machines to see if they can identify PETN (the explosive used in the Christmas bomb). And now the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Management, Investigations and Oversight finds uncontrolled spending.
It looks like Homeland Security needs more scrutiny. When both the Government Accountability Office and the financial auditors raise red flags, someone should notice.
Even the title of the hearing was a harbinger of problems to come for DHS — “Furthering the Mission or Having Fun: Lax Travel Policies Cost DHS Millions.”
Homeland Security Department officials on Thursday in committee hearings admitted that they cannot account for how the $110 million DHS outlay on conferences and meetings between 2005 and 2007 was actually spent.
Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Christopher Carney, D-Pa., decried the limited departmentwide procedures for determining or minimizing the number of employees attending conferences. “The only ‘test’ that appears to be in place for determining the necessity of travel is whether funding is available,” he said. “This must be fixed.”
He also questioned DHS for buying employees plane tickets that cost as much as $8,000, and about the possibility of unnecessary food reimbursements.
In his opening statement, the chairman noted:
According to the IG report entitled “DHS Conference Spending Practices and Oversight” DHS officials were unable to
produce precise consistent numbers on conference spending, often information was not maintained in a manner to
facilitate proper examination, tracking of actual conference costs, or identification of a sponsoring entity. As a result, most
responses received from the components contained missing data and had discrepancies.Most alarmingly according to the IG report a “DHS official said there is no reason to track conference expenditures
because there are no spending restrictions.”
Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS) added his sharp comments to the record.
According to the report, from FY 2005 through FY 2007, the Department spent approximately $110 million on conference-related activities. This money was spent on sending employees across the nation and around the world in 43,989 instances.
For example, the Department spent almost $30,000 to send 150 CBP employees to a conference in St. Simons, GA; CBP also spent over $470, 000 on a three-day event in Dallas, TX attended by over 300 CBP employees; furthermore, 320 TSA employees
attended a conference in Texas at the cost of $643,000.These are just a sampling of the 8,359 conferences attended by Department employees during the relevant time frame.
Ms. Elaine Duke, Undersecretary for Management, Department of Homeland Security, defended her department by claiming that the IG audit was old news, conducted using FY 2005-2007 data, and that new controls have been put in place in 2009.
These new controls will “trim costs, streamline operations, eliminate duplication, and better manage resources across the Department. … specifically the travel and use of Government facilities initiatives, have already generated Department-wide policies covering the conference planning process.”
Though the DHS is trying to save money, their controls are failing according to Carl Mann, Assistant Inspector General for Inspections, DHS IG. His testimony noted discrepancies in travel expenses in the hundreds of thousand of dollars. His testimony cited Customs and Border Protection trips as well as FEMA conferences that simply did not have adequate backup for expenses reported.
His report noted that in addition to bad accounting, “cost comparisons were not conducted” by DHS when they were dealing with travel and conferences.
The bottom line: GAO, auditors and now Congress are beginning to look at DHS expenditures far more carefully. The days of the blank checkbook for Homeland Security may be coming to an end.
Photo: Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office ofInspector General (OIG) report data.
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
