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Audits, Inspections, and Evaluations

Report Number Title Issue Date Fiscal Year
OIG-18-51 Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD) 12 requires that Federal agencies implement a government-wide standard for secure, reliable identification for their employees and contractors to access facilities and systems. Our objective was to assess DHS’ progress in implementing and managing the HSPD-12 program since our prior audits in 2007 and 2010.  The Department of Homeland Security has not made much progress in implementing and managing requirements of the HSPD-12 program department-wide. Many of the same issues we previously reported in 2007 and 2010 pose challenges today.

>Department-wide Management of the HSPD-12 Program Needs Improvement 		2018
OIG-18-50 The TSA SSI Program Office's Identification and Redaction of Sensitive Security Information 2018
OIG-18-49 The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) estimated that the City of Cedar Falls, Iowa (City), had sustained approximately $893,000 in damage caused by severe storms and flooding from September 21 through October 3, 2016. We audited early in the grant process to identify areas in which the City may need additional technical assistance or monitoring to ensure compliance with Federal procurement requirements. Except for procurement, the City’s policies, procedures, and business practices appear to be adequate to account for and expend FEMA grant funds according to Federal regulations and FEMA policies. Specifically, the City’s procurement policies did not provide sufficient opportunities for disadvantaged firms to compete for contracts, or prevent awarding contracts to debarred or suspended contractors. After we discussed these issues, City officials moved quickly to modify procurement policies to comply with Federal requirements.

>City of Cedar Falls, Iowa Has Policies, Procedures, and Business Practices to Manage Its FEMA Grant 		2018
OIG-18-45 The Office of National Drug Control Policy’s (ONDCP) Circular, Accounting of Drug Control Funding and Performance Summary, requires National Drug Control Program agencies to submit to the ONDCP Director, not later than February 1 of each year, a detailed accounting of all funds expended for National Drug Control Program activities during the previous fiscal year (FY).  The Office of Inspector General (OIG) is required to conduct a review of the report and provide a conclusion about the reliability of each assertion made in the report. Independent Accountants’ Report on the

U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s (ICE) FY 2017 Drug Control Performance Summary Report. ICE’s management prepared the Performance Summary Report and the related disclosures in accordance with the requirements of the ONDCP Circular, Accounting of Drug Control Funding and Performance Summary, dated January 18, 2013 (Circular).

>Review of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Fiscal Year 2017 Drug Control Performance Summary Report 		2018
OIG-18-48 The Office of National Drug Control Policy’s (ONDCP) Circular, Accounting of Drug Control Funding and Performance Summary, requires National Drug Control Program agencies to submit to the ONDCP Director, not later than February 1 of each year, a detailed accounting of all funds expended for National Drug Control Program activities during FY 2017. There are six program offices within CBP that are tasked with drug-control responsibilities: the United States Border Patrol (USBP), the Offices of Field Operations (OFO), Information and Technology (OIT), Training and Development (OTD), Acquisition (OA), and Air and Marine (AMO)).

>Review of U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Fiscal Year 2017 Detailed Accounting Submission for Drug Control Funds 		2018
OIG-18-43 The Office of National Drug Control Policy’s (ONDCP) Circular, Accounting of Drug Control Funding and Performance Summary, requires National Drug Control Program agencies to submit to the ONDCP Director, not later than February 1 of each year, a detailed accounting of all funds expended for National Drug Control Program activities during the previous fiscal year (FY). The Office of Inspector General (OIG) is required to conduct a review of the report and provide a conclusion about the reliability of each assertion made in the report. Independent Accountants’ Report on the U.S. Coast Guard’s (Coast Guard) FY 2017 Drug Control Performance Summary Report. Coast Guard’s management prepared the Performance Summary Report and the related disclosures in accordance with the requirements of the ONDCP Circular, Accounting of Drug Control Funding and Performance Summary, dated January 18, 2013 (Circular).

>Review of U.S. Coast Guard's Fiscal Year 2017 Drug Control Performance Summary Report 		2018
OIG-18-46 The Office of National Drug Control Policy’s (ONDCP) Circular, Accounting of Drug Control Funding and Performance Summary, requires National Drug Control Program agencies to submit to the ONDCP Director, not later than February 1 of each year, a detailed accounting of all

funds expended for National Drug Control Program activities during FY 2017. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a multi-mission bureau, and obligations are reported pursuant to an approved drug methodology. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Domestic Investigations, International Operations (IO) and Office of Intelligence uphold U.S. drug control policy delegated amid the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) initiatives, by fully supporting the overall ICE mandate to detect, disrupt, and dismantle smuggling organizations.

>Review of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Fiscal Year 2017 Detailed Accounting Submission for Drug Control Funds 		2018
OIG-18-44 The Office of National Drug Control Policy’s (ONDCP) Circular, Accounting of Drug Control Funding and Performance Summary, requires National Drug Control Program agencies to submit to the ONDCP Director, not later than February 1 of each year, a detailed accounting of all funds expended for National Drug Control Program activities during the previous fiscal year (FY). The Office of Inspector General (OIG) is required to conduct a review of the agency’s submission and provide a conclusion about the reliability of each assertion in the report. an Independent Accountants’ Report on U.S. Coast Guard’s (Coast Guard) Detailed Accounting Submission. Coast Guard’s management prepared the Table of FY 2017 Drug Control Obligations and related disclosures in accordance with the requirements of the ONDCP Circular, Accounting of Drug Control Funding and Performance Summary, dated January 18, 2013 (Circular).

>Review of U.S. Coast Guard's Fiscal Year 2017 Detailed Accounting Submission for Drug Control Funds 		2018
OIG-18-47 The Office of National Drug Control Policy’s (ONDCP) Circular, Accounting of Drug Control Funding and Performance Summary, requires National Drug Control Program agencies to submit to the ONDCP Director, not later than February 1 of each year, a detailed accounting of all funds expended for National Drug Control Program activities during FY 2017. This Performance Summary Report contains the performance measures aligned to drug control decision units as required by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Circular: Accounting of Drug Control Funding and Performance Summary, dated January 18, 2013. The drug control decision units are as follows: (1) Salaries and Expenses, (2) Air and Marine Interdiction, Operations, Maintenance, and Procurement and (3) Border Security Fence, Infrastructure and Technology.

>Review of U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Fiscal Year 2017 Drug Control Performance Summary Report 		2018
OIG-18-42 Management Alert - ICE's Training Model Needs Further Evaluation 2018
OIG-18-41 DHS Needs to Strengthen Its Suspension and Debarment Program 2018
OIG-18-40 The Indiana Department of Homeland Security (Indiana) received $27.9 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) funds to disburse to eligible subgrantees for projects in 10 disasters declared from June 2004 to April 2014. Our objective was to determine whether Indiana administered the grant program in accordance with Federal regulations and ensured subgrantees properly accounted for and expended FEMA funds. Indiana unable to demonstrate it has procedures and processes to ensure compliance with all Federal monitoring and financial reporting requirements. Specifically, Indiana did not perform required subgrant monitoring during project implementation and post closeout; submit quarterly progress and financial reports that met requirements; and comply with financial management requirements to ensure subgrantees accounted for and expended FEMA grant funds according to Federal regulations and FEMA guidelines.

>Indiana Needs to Improve the Management of Its FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grants 		2018
OIG-18-39 Audit of FEMA Public Assistance Grant Funds Awarded to Volunteer Energy 2018
OIG-18-38 Facing continued negative publicity and pressure from Members of Congress, FEMA established the Sandy Claims Review Process (SCRP). In doing so, FEMA did not rely on legislatively mandated internal controls designed to ensure appropriate payments for flood victims. Additionally, during the formation and operation of the SCRP, FEMA failed to establish contractor expectations or provide consistent guidance and oversight related to Hurricane Sandy claims. These omissions resulted in policyholders receiving unsupported additional payments, excessive costs to operate the SCRP, and time delays in processing the claims

>Unsupported Payments Made to Policyholders Who Participated in the Hurricane Sandy Claims Review Process 		2018
OIG-18-37 Following news reports that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel implementing Executive Order#13769 (EO) “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States”(January 27, 2017) potentially violated the civil rights of individual travelers, we received a congressional request to investigate DHS’s implementation of the EO. In response, we investigated how DHS and CBP, the DHS entity primarily responsible for implementation of the EO, responded to challenges presented by the EO, including the consequence of court orders and CBP’s compliance with them. In our investigation, we found that CBP was caught by surprise when the President issued the EO on January 27, 2017. DHS had little opportunity to prepare for and respond to basic questions about which categories of travelers were affected by the EO. We found that the bulk of travelers affected by the EO who arrived in the United States, particularly LPRs, received national interest waivers. In addition, we observed that the lack of a public or congressional relations strategy significantly hampered CBP and harmed its public image.

>DHS Implementation of Executive Order #13769 "Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States" (January 27, 2017) (Redacted) 		2018
OIG-18-35 Special Review: TSA's Handling of the 2015 Disciplinary Matter Involving TSES Employee (Redacted) – Retracted 2018
OIG-18-36 ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) faces challenges in implementing the Known or Suspected Terrorist Encounter Protocol (KSTEP) screening process, which is used to identify aliens who may be known or suspected terrorists. Although ERO uses KSTEP to screen all aliens who are in ICE custody, ERO policy does not require continued screening of the approximately 2.37 million aliens when released and under ICE supervision. We sampled and tested 40 of 142 ERO case files of detained aliens identified as known or suspected terrorists during fiscal years 2013–15. All 40 files had at least one instance of noncompliance with KSTEP policy, generating greater concerns regarding the population of aliens screened and determined to have no connections to terrorism.

>ICE Faces Challenges to Screen Aliens Who May Be Known or Suspected Terrorists (Redacted) 		2018
OIG-18-34 The DATA Act required the OIG to review a statistically valid sample of DHS’ fiscal year 2017, 2nd quarter spending data posted on USASpending.gov and to submit to Congress a report assessing the data’s completeness, timeliness, quality, and accuracy; and DHS’ implementation and use of Government-wide financial data standards. The Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 (DATA Act) required DHS to submit, by May 2017, complete, accurate, and timely spending data to the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) for publication on USASpending.gov beginning with the 2nd quarter of FY 2017. DHS successfully certified and submitted its FY 2017/Q2 spending data for posting on USASpending.gov in April 2017. Although DHS met the DATA Act’s mandated submission deadline, we identified issues concerning the completeness and accuracy of its first data submission that hinders the quality and usefulness of the information.

 

>DHS' Implementation of the DATA Act 		2018
OIG-17-120-D-SPANISH Este informe asistiremos a los beneficiarios y sub-beneficiarios de las subvenciones de asistencia por desastre de la Agencia Federal para el Manejo de Emergencias (FEMA) a: documentar y contabilizar los costos relacionados con el desastre; minimizar la pérdida de los fondos de asistencia por desastre de FEMA; maximizar la recuperación financiera; y prevenir el fraude, malversación y abuso de los fondos de desastre. El informe revisado es efectivo para todas las emergencias y desastres mayores declarados a partir del 1 de abril de 2017.

>Consejos de Auditoría para Administrar los Costos de Projectos Relacionados con Desastres 		2017
OIG-18-33 Because of the high dollar amount in disaster funds likely awarded and the history of audit questioned costs for FEMA disaster funds, FEMA’s inadequate grant management poses a significant risk to taxpayer dollars. We identified issues in our previous reports that demonstrate FEMA’s ongoing issues with ensuring disaster grant recipients and subrecipients comply with Federal regulations and FEMA guidelines. Specifically, FEMA faces significant challenges in ensuring its grant recipients properly manage FEMA disaster funds. This alert highlights the significant deficiencies with FEMA’s internal controls and its lack of enforcement of Federal requirements. As FEMA moves forward with its recovery efforts, it must hold recipients accountable for proper grant management. FEMA must implement and use effective controls to overcome existing problems with managing and monitoring funds for disaster response and recovery.

>Management Alert - FEMA Faces Significant Challenges Ensuring Recipients Properly Manage Disaster Funds 		2018
OIG-18-32 In response to concerns raised by immigrant rights groups and complaints to the Office of Inspector General (OIG) Hotline about conditions for detainees held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, we conducted unannounced inspections of five detention facilities to evaluate their compliance with ICE detention standards. We identified problems that undermine the protection of detainees’ rights, their humane treatment, and the provision of a safe and healthy environment. Although the climate and detention conditions varied among the facilities and not every problem was present at all of them, our observations, interviews with detainees and staff, and our review of documents revealed several issues. Upon entering some facilities, detainees were housed incorrectly based on their criminal history. Further, in violation of standards, all detainees entering one facility were strip searched. Available language services were not always used to facilitate communication with detainees. Some facility staff reportedly deterred detainees from filing grievances and did not thoroughly document resolution of grievances. Staff did not always treat detainees respectfully and professionally, and some facilities may have misused segregation. Finally, we observed potentially unsafe and unhealthy detention conditions.

>Concerns About ICE Detainee Treatment and Care at Detention Facilities 		2018
OIG-18-30 This is a Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General management alert to make the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and its partners aware of active attempts — observed during our ongoing disaster oversight work in Puerto Rico — to profit from disaster survivors seeking FEMA assistance. We observed posted notices featuring a logo similar to FEMA’s, advertising paid services to complete the FEMA disaster assistance application on behalf of survivors. These services appear to be associated with FEMA, but actually are not, and demand a fee for services FEMA provides at no cost.

To complete the disaster assistance application forms, the paid service requires disaster survivors to provide their Personally Identifiable Information (PII) — such as their social security number, household annual income, and bank account numbers — to a third party, which exposes survivors to unnecessary risks.

>Management Alert - FEMA Must Take Steps to Stop Those Attempting to Profit from Disaster Survivors Seeking Assistance in Puerto Rico 		2018
OIG-18-31 During our August 2017 site visit to the FLETC Artesia Training Center, we identified a potential safety issue at a warehouse, Building 13. The Border Patrol Academy had been using the warehouse to train new hires on search and conveyance. In 2009, a vehicle from an adjacent driving course struck the warehouse. FLETC officials could not provide documentation to support that an engineering evaluation was conducted to determine whether the accident affected the integrity of the warehouse structure. Border Patrol Academy officials also expressed safety concerns about using the warehouse to train new hires.

>Management Alert - Safety Issue at FLETC Artesia Warehouse 		2018
OIG-18-27 The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) intended to expand TSA PreCheck to 25 million air travelers at a rate of more than 5 million enrollments per year. We evaluated whether the current TSA PreCheck Application Program adjudication process will allow TSA to meet its enrollment goals. TSA did not allocate additional resources or staff to the TSA Adjudication Center, which had multiple vacancies and was tasked with manually processing about 26 percent of TSA PreCheck Application Program applications. To make matters worse, in June 2016, TSA PreCheck applications surged, leaving the Adjudication Center overwhelmed with applications to process. As the application queue grew, TSA brought on detailees from other Federal agencies to assist with adjudications part time, but they did not have a significant impact. Further, the Adjudication Center relies on a manual caseload assignment and reporting process, which is inefficient for the volume of TSA PreCheck applications needing adjudication.

>TSA's Adjudication Resources are Inadequate to Meet TSA PreCheck Enrollment Goals 		2018
OIG-18-29 This is a Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General (OIG) special report on Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and FEMA recipient and sub recipient disaster-related procurements. FEMA is currently responding to some of the most catastrophic disasters in U.S. history — Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria, and the October 2017, California wildfires. Because of the massive scale of damage and the large number and high-dollar contracts that will likely be awarded, there is a significant risk that billions of taxpayer dollars may be exposed to waste, fraud, and abuse.

>Lessons Learned from Prior Reports on Disaster-related Procurement and Contracting 		2018
OIG-18-28 Osceola Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Osceola) received a $10 million Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant award for damages caused by a severe winter storm in April 2013. Although the disaster occurred 4 years ago, Osceola has not completed all FEMA projects. We conducted this audit early in the grant process to identify areas in which Osceola may need additional technical assistance or monitoring to ensure compliance. Osceola generally accounted for and expended $10 million FEMA Public Assistance Funds according to Federal regulations and FEMA guidelines.

>Osceola Electric Cooperative, Iowa, Generally Managed FEMA Grant Funds According to Federal Requirements 		2018
OIG-18-26 Severe winter storms, flooding, and mudslides during January and February 2017 caused significant damage to Solano County, California (County). County officials estimate damages at $1.6 million. Based on our limited testing, the County appears to have in place policies, procedures, and business practices to generally account for and expend FEMA Public Assistance grant funds according to Federal regulations and FEMA guidelines. The County should be able to account for disaster-related costs on a project-by-project basis and adequately support these costs.

>Solano County, California, Has Policies, Procedures, and Business Practices to Manage Its FEMA Grant Funding 		2018
OIG-17-80-D Cancellation of OIG Audit – FEMA’s Initial Response to the 2016 Catastrophic Flooding in Louisiana 2017
OIG-18-20 We evaluated the Office of Health Affairs’ (OHA) privacy safeguards for protecting the personally identifiable information (PII) it collects and maintains. OHA has not implemented an effective organizational framework for safeguarding PII in accordance with Federal requirements. OHA appointed a Privacy Officer, but this official lacks adequate authority and resources to carry out the various required privacy management responsibilities. This official also has not received OHA senior leadership support to issue the policies and procedures needed for effective organization-wide privacy management. Further, there was no central tracking to ensure that all employees completed annual privacy training and to accurately report this information to the Department and Congress as required.

>Office of Health Affairs Has Not Implemented An Effective Privacy Management Program 		2018
OIG-18-24 DHS reported using its Other Transaction Authority to work with non-traditional contractors, DHS did not always follow statutory requirements when entering, modifying, and overseeing its agreements. Inadequate internal policies contributed to DHS falling short of meeting all statutory requirements for using OTAs. In addition, DHS acquisition policy staff reported that competing priorities prevented timely reporting to Congress. As a result, DHS may have taken on more risks and costs than necessary and impeded Congress’ ability to oversee DHS’ use of OTAs.

>Department of Homeland Security's Use of Other Transaction Authority 		2018
OIG-18-21 FEMA is currently responding to Hurricane Harvey in Texas, one of the largest disasters in U.S. history, with current damage estimates reported to exceed $100 billion. Due to the massive scale of damage, FEMA and Texas, as a FEMA grantee, will face many challenges in the recovery phase of the disaster. As FEMA moves into the recovery phase for Hurricane Harvey, it will begin to obligate hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars from the Disaster Relief Fund for administrative costs and for Public Assistance and Hazard Mitigation grants to eligible state, tribal, and local governments and certain nonprofit organizations. Texas, as FEMA’s grantee, will be responsible for oversight and monitoring of the disaster grants to Texas subrecipients.

>Special Report: Lessons Learned from Prior DHS-OIG Reports Related to FEMA's Response to Texas Disasters and Texas' Management of FEMA Grant Funds 		2018
OIG-18-25 The Omaha Tribe’s serious financial management weaknesses combined with inadequate and missing documentation resulted in unreliable financial records. As a result, we have little confidence that the transactions recorded in the accounting system actually occurred or that the tribe completed its FEMA-authorized projects. Therefore, we question $13.9 million as unsupported. Due to the unreliable financial information, we calculated the amount unsupported as the entire $16.9 million FEMA provided for both grants, less $2.8 million in unused Federal funding that FEMA should put to better use; $165,000 in unclaimed insurance coverage; and approximately $74,749 that we were able to verify as supported and eligible.

>The Omaha Tribe of Nebraska and Iowa Mismanaged $14 Million in FEMA Disaster Grants 		2018
OIG-18-23 USCIS deployed this capability in April 2016 to improve processing of approximately 84,000 naturalization applications received each month. However, as before, the ELIS capabilities deployed did not include critical functionality necessary for end-to­-end Form N-400 processing. ELIS repeatedly experienced outages and did not always perform as intended. Also, USCIS did not ensure field personnel were adequately trained to use the new system capabilities prior to deployment. Given its focus on meeting established system release dates, USCIS did not fully address our prior report recommendations to improve user support, stakeholder engagement, performance measurement, and testing to ensure ELIS met user needs and improved operations.

>USCIS Has Been Unsuccessful in Automating Naturalization Benefits Delivery 		2018
OIG-18-22 Representative Raúl M. Grijalva requested that we review U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) decision to award GEO Care, LLC a contract to establish a Family Case Management Program (FCMP). We sought to determine whether ICE awarded the FCMP contract in accordance with laws, regulations, and guidance. We also conducted a limited review of post-award contract modifications. FCMP is an alternative to detention that uses case managers to ensure participants comply with their release conditions, such as attending court hearings, while allowing them to remain in their community as they move through immigration proceedings. We determined that ICE properly awarded FCMP contracts.

>U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Award of the Family Case Management Program Contract 		2018
OIG-18-19 Review of CBP Information Technology System Outage of January 2, 2017 (Redacted) 2018
OIG-18-17 The Hospital must improve its policies, procedures, and business practices to account for and expend FEMA grant funds according to Federal regulations and FEMA guidelines. Specifically, it did not properly document and adequately account for project costs; comply with its overtime policy; and comply with Federal requirements for insurance. Additionally, there were major differences in the damage estimates FEMA and the Hospital calculated.

>Napa State Hospital, California, Should Improve the Management of Its $6.7 Million FEMA Grant 		2018
OIG-18-18 CBP issued the summons to Twitter regarding the @ALT_USCIS account for the purpose of identifying the owner of the account. CBP took the position that it needed this information in order to “insure compliance with the laws of the United States administered by the [Service]” - investigate possible criminal violations by CBP officials, including murder, theft, and corruption.

>Management Alert - CBP's Use of Examination and Summons Authority Under 19 U.S.C. § 1509 		2018
OIG-18-16 Independent Auditors' Report on DHS' FY 2017 Financial Statements and Internal Control over Financial Reporting 20187
OIG-18-15 Coast Guard IT Investments Risk Failure Without Required Oversight 2018
OIG-18-14 Management Alert - Concerns with Potential Duplicate or Ineligible FEMA Public Assistance Funding for Facilities Damaged by Back-to-Back Disasters 2018
OIG-18-13 FEMA and CBP Oversight of Operation Stonegarden Program Needs Improvement 2018
OIG-18-12 We prepared this special report to address challenges FEMA, Texas, Florida, U.S. territories in the Caribbean, and California may face managing insurance under the Public Assistance program in the wake of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, and the October 2017 California wildfires. This report describes lessons learned from findings and recommendations contained in our DHS OIG grant audit reports issued from fiscal years 2013–2017. During fiscal years 2013–2017, we issued 37 Disaster Assistance grant audit reports that disclosed challenges with FEMA’s Public Assistance insurance process. The major recurring challenges we identified included (1) Duplicate benefits in which subrecipients claimed FEMA reimbursement for costs that were covered by insurance; (2) Insufficient insurance in which subrecipients did not obtain and maintain sufficient insurance coverage required as a condition for receiving Federal disaster assistance; and (3) Misapplied or misallocated insurance proceeds in which subrecipients received insurance proceeds, and misapplied or did not allocate those proceeds to FEMA projects.

>Special Report: Lessons Learned from Previous Audit Reports on Insurance under the Public Assistance Program 		2018
OIG-18-11 Department leadership must commit itself to ensuring DHS operates more as a single entity. rather than a collection of components. The lack of progress in reinforcing a unity of effort translates to a missed opportunity for greater effectiveness. Second, Department leadership must establish and enforce a strong internal control environment typical of a more mature organization. The current environment of relatively weak internal controls affects all aspects of the Department’s mission, from border protection to immigration enforcement and from protection against terrorist attacks and natural disasters to cybersecurity. We have seen little evidence of proactive effort by leadership to view the organization holistically, to forcefully communicate the need for cooperation among components, and to establish programs or policies that ensure unity, even though such effort is a necessary precondition to unified action.

 

>Major Management and Performance Challenges Facing the Department of Homeland Security 		2018
OIG-18-10 The Department faces challenges to effectively sharing cyber threat information across Federal and private sector entities. Without acquiring a cross-domain information processing solution and automated tools, DHS cannot analyze and share threat information timely. Further, without enhanced outreach, DHS cannot increase participation and improve coordination of information sharing across Federal and private organizations.

 

>Biennial Report on DHS’ Implementation of the Cybersecurity Act of 2015 		2018
OIG-18-09 The County does not have legal responsibility for the disaster-related repairs on township roadway projects. Therefore, the County is not eligible to receive $6,151,893 in Federal funding identified as township projects because it is not legally responsible for the repairs to the damaged facilities (roadways).

>Management Alert - FEMA Should Recover $6.2 Million in Public Assistance Funds for Disaster Repairs That Are Not the Legal Responsibility of Richland County, North Dakota 		2018
OIG-18-07 ICE, CBP, and USCIS continue to experience challenges with emerging immigration enforcement and administration activities. Although DHS has established unity of effort initiatives to break silos and centralize decision making related to immigration, problems remain. We identified challenges related to mission allocation and expenditure comparisons, the affirmative asylum application process, and the Department’s struggle to understand immigration outcomes and decisions. DHS will continue to allow vulnerabilities that may affect national security and public safety to persist.

 

>DHS Needs a More Unified Approach to Immigration Enforcement and Administration 		2018
OIG-18-07
    1. Report: O:\Special Projects\508 Reports\FY18\MGMT
    2. Press release:  O:\Special Projects\508 Reports\FY17\PR
    3. Testimony: O:\Special Projects\508 Reports\FY17\TM
  • PTS or final report folder
  • 508 compliant- need default tools
    1. Action Wizard tab
    • >DHS Needs a More Unified Approach         		2018
    OIG-18-08 CalRecycle also has sufficient policies, procedures, and business practices in place to account for disaster costs on a project-by-project basis in accordance with most Federal regulations and FEMA guidelines. CalRecycle did not follow these policies, procedures, and practices when accounting for and expending $198.9 million in project costs. Therefore, we questioned these costs unless CalRecycle can correct the deficiencies we identify. CalRecycle did not adequately document costs, account for costs on a residential lot-by-lot basis, effectively monitor contractors to ensure they performed to contract terms and conditions, or clearly separate costs for eligible and ineligible work.

     

    >FEMA and California Need to Assist CalRecycle, a California State Agency, to Improve Its Accounting of $230 Million in Disaster Costs         		2018
    OIG-18-06 FEMA did not manage disaster relief grants and funds adequately and did not hold grant recipients accountable for properly managing disaster relief funds. We continue to identify persistent problems such as improper contract costs, and ineligible and unsupported expenditures as examples of this continued failure. Over the 7-year period, FYs 2009 to 2015, we found $1.64 billion, or 15 percent, in questioned costs out of the $10.9 billion that we audited, which we recommended FEMA disallow as ineligible and unsupported costs. In FY 2016, we found $155.6 million2, or 23 percent, in questioned costs out of the $686 million that we audited, confirming that FEMA is not making progress managing disaster relief funds adequately. We continue to identify persistent problems throughout FEMA’s grant process, we are concerned that billions of tax payer dollars remain at risk.

     

    >Summary and Key Findings of Fiscal Year 2016 FEMA Disaster Grant and Program Audits         		2018
    OIG-18-05 DHS personnel do not always safeguard sensitive assets that, if lost, would result in critical mission impact or loss of life. Between fiscal years 2014 and 2016, the Department of Homeland Security personnel lost a total of 2,142 highly sensitive assets — 228 firearms; 1,889 badges; and 25 secure immigration stamps. Although this represents a slight improvement from our last audit, more than half of the lost items we reviewed (65 of 115) revealed that component personnel did not follow policy or used poor judgment when safeguarding these assets. In these cases, components did not always hold personnel accountable nor did they receive remedial training for failing to safeguard these sensitive assets.

    >DHS' Controls Over Firearms and Other Sensitive Assets         		2018

    *NDAA, Pub. L. 117-263, section 5274 Response Received. View responses

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