GAO faults DHS for poor management of watch centers

The Homeland Security Department’s 25 national and regional operations centers that run around the clock every day suffer from poor collaboration and coordination, auditors report. DHS’ management has hobbled the effectiveness of a pivotal information-sharing network and created other problems, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report April 5. Management disarray in the DHS operations centers extends to the department’s Homeland Security Information Network, the report stated. Although department officials repeatedly have cited their success in developing the collaboration tool, GAO found that DHS had not provided standards, policies and procedures for its use. “Without the application of the standards, policies and procedures, users were unsure of how to use the network and, therefore, did not maximize the operations centers’ capacity for sharing security-related information,” the report stated. The congressional audit agency found that 21 of the centers employ staff members from only one DHS agency on a full-time basis. Those 21 watch centers carry out “agency-specific functions,” the auditors said. As a result, the auditors focused on these four multiagency operations centers: The auditors found that the interagency watch centers lacked key management tools that would improve their effectiveness, such as various types of standards, policies, procedures, job descriptions, evaluation methods, accountability rules, public disclosures, strategic plans and reports. The auditors recommended that the four major operations centers receive guidance from DHS’ Operations Directorate on how to tighten management to boost collaboration and generate defined goals, strategies, evaluation methods and reporting. “Given that the collaboration in multiagency operations centers focuses on gathering and disseminating information on real-time situational awareness related to disasters and possible terrorist activity, it is important that the staff at the centers achieve the most effective collaboration possible,” according to the auditors. DHS officials evaluated a draft of the report, according to GAO. They agreed with the recommendations and said the Operations Directorate was working to bolster collaboration. , .