DHS Doesn't Share Well with Others

The Homeland Security Act of 2002 granted the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) statutory authority to coordinate information-sharing networks with state and local governments. As the five-year anniversary of the creation of the Department approaches, along with the six-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found that DHS is falling short of its responsibility to effectively share information within the federal government, or with state, local and tribal governments and the private sector.

Congress created DHS to better coordinate homeland security efforts across the federal government. A large piece of the agency's mission is managing homeland security information and ensuring that the right information gets to the right people at the right time. Of particular importance is providing first responders and state and local governments with timely access to valuable nationwide information-sharing networks.

Despite these needs, a new GAO report and recent GAO testimony before the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment find that DHS is not fulfilling its responsibilities. "While DHS is responsible for coordinating these network and system efforts among federal, state, and local governments, it has not done so effectively with regard to its primary information-sharing system and two key state and local initiatives," states the report.

GAO testified on May 10 before the subcommittee that DHS failed to coordinate with state and local governments in developing the Homeland Security Information Network (HSIN), the agency's leading web-based application to share homeland security information with the federal government, all fifty states and local governments:

DHS did not work effectively with two key Regional Information Sharing Systems program initiatives. This program, which is operated and managed by state and local officials nationwide, provides services to law enforcement, emergency responders, and other public safety officials. However, DHS did not coordinate with the program to fully develop joint strategies and policies, procedures, and other means to operate across agency boundaries, which are key practices for effective coordination and collaboration and a means to enhance information sharing and avoid duplication of effort.

GAO's testimony states that, as a result, information sharing may not be occurring, and HSIN may be an unnecessary duplication of already-existing programs. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, stated that "Every month, only 6% of HSIN law enforcement users and only 1% of counter-terrorism and emergency management users actually post something on the system."

In response to the GAO report, DHS has agreed with the findings and committed that within 60 days of the report's release, DHS will provide an update to the relevant committees on a series of agency actions to meet GAO's recommendations.

Also of concern is the failure to develop government-wide policy for sensitive but unclassified (SBU) information. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) reported that 107 separate SBU categories of information have been created since 9/11. The office concludes, "The growing and non-standardized inventory of SBU designations and markings is a serious impediment to information sharing among agencies, between levels of government, and, as appropriate, with the private sector."

The Secretary of DHS and the ODNI were required by a Dec. 16, 2005, memo from President Bush "to standardize procedures for sensitive but unclassified information." The Information Sharing Environment (ISE) plan, established under ODNI, states that policy recommendations will be submitted to the White House in first quarter of 2007, but no such plans have been publicly released.

The Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee submitted a May 1 letter to the Secretary of DHS and the Director of National Intelligence inquiring into the status of the standardization of SBU policies. "If we are to prevent future terrorist events and be better prepared to respond to such events, as well as natural disasters, there must be better information sharing between federal agencies and with our state, local, and tribal partners and the private sector," said Sens. Joseph Lieberman (ID-CT) and Susan Collins (R-ME), respective chairman and ranking member of the committee. They continued, "We believe that prompt attention to the standardization of SBU designations is essential to improving information sharing."

DHS and ODNI have yet to issue a response to the senators' letter.