By Emelie Rutherford
Aides to presidential hopefuls Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) suggested yesterday their bosses would reorganize the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which is poised to be scrutinized for the first time by a new president.
Joining them at a conference in Washington, meanwhile, two leaders of congressional Homeland Security panels cautioned against an immediate wholesale overhaul to the 24-agency DHS as it works to right its path following a bumpy start since its 2002 inception.
Rachana Bhowmik, legislative counsel in Obama’s Senate office, said DHS is “a somewhat delinquent student” that hasn’t turned in all its “homework” assignments, including handing in a complete National Response Plan to Congress.
“I think my boss would argue there is some reorganization that needs to be done,” she said, speaking on behalf of Obama’s Senate office and not his presidential campaign. “We need to ensure that redundancies are eliminated, whether it’s a redundancy within DHS or it’s a redundancy between a DHS element and a HHS element or a DoD element, because eliminating those redundancies would only result in more efficiency, and in the end better security for us all.”
Bhowmik noted DHS has been faced with a “tremendous challenge” to stand up as an agency with an organization chart that spans multiple pages.
“It’s a new agency given a…ridiculously difficult challenge, and in many cases has met the challenge, and in many cases has not, and the next administration needs to take a careful look at that,” she said. “It’s going to be one of those things where you need to hit the round running. So the transition is going to be extraordinarily important.”
Lee Carosi Dunn, counsel in McCain’s Senate office, said her boss “probably” recognizes that areas of DHS require reorganization. She also spoke on behalf of McCain’s Senate office, not his presidential campaign.
“He would tell you if he was here that it is the prerogative of each new executive to come in and look at an agency and decide how it should be revised,” Dunn said. While she said she couldn’t delve into specifics, she said she believes McCain has ideas “on how he would change the agency to better reflect his administration’s priorities.”
Those priorities, she said, include improving emergency communications and ensuring the DHS grant process is fair, comprehensive, audited, and lacking of “fraud, waste, and abuse.” She noted McCain’s work to secure enhanced electromagnetic spectrum for first responders, as well as his early support for having unmanned aerial vehicles monitor the U.S. border.
“I think you’ll see whoever comes to the White House looking at each agency, including DHS, because it’s such a new agency, and finding ways to reform it to reflect their priorities in Homeland Security,” Dunn said.
Speaking at yesterday’s conference sponsored by the Homeland Security Journal, Penrose Albright, former assistant secretary of Homeland Security, predicted DHS is “going to see a fairly wholesale reorganization.”
“I think…you’re going to see a fairly hard look at the organization of the department, and I think it’s highly unlikely that once that look has occurred that you’re going to see tweaking at the margin,” said Albright, now managing director of the Civitas Group in Washington.
He said DHS’s acquisition capability will likely be strengthened in a new administration, noting the agency now lacks a systems engineering culture.
“They have multiple procurement shops, none of which is particularly skilled at the kind of technology acquisitions that we’ve been seeing and are going to be so important to the evolution of the national capability in Homeland Security,” Albright said. “At the very senior leadership of the department I think there’s been a bit of naivety on what it takes to actually manage a program in terms of the need for a very strong culture for program management, and the need to actually invest in significant program office support.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.), chair of the House Homeland Security emerging threats, cybersecurity, science, and technology subcommittee, cautioned yesterday against a quick DHS reorganization, even though he has been critical of some DHS agencies.
“I’ve been of the opinion that you can’t just solve problems by changing the organizational chart,” Langevin said.
“And it’s my hope that the next president will resist the urge…to politicize these positions that are so important for the safety and security of the American people,” he added.
Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Tex.) chair of the House Homeland Security emergency communications, preparedness, and response subcommittee, urged “the next administration to resist the temptation to drastically alter the department until after the frenetic pace of the first 100 days.”
He noted DHS was reorganized in 2005 by Secretary Michael Chertoff before going through a mini-reorganization in 2006 because of legislation passed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
“I think it’s time to stop reordering the boxes and let DHS concentrate on improving its functionality, governance, and accountability,” Cuellar said.
“So I urge the next Secretary of Homeland Security, along with the new president, to articulate and demonstrate clearly…the full integration of the department as top priority,” so that all the disparate agencies can work as one, he said.