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DHS secretary Michael Chertoff’s reorganization plan in itself could delay projects, as officials seek to fill newly created positions and to learn new patterns of operation.

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Homeland Security IT Budgets for FY2004–FY2006 (In billions)
FY2004 Actual: 4.76
FY2005 Estimate: 4.79
FY2006 Request: 5,98
Source: OMB, FY 2006 Budget of the U.S. Government (IT Spending Report), February 7, 2005

DHS record of accomplishment, or not
When the Homeland Security Department took shape in early 2002, the Bush administration issued an ambitious plan to secure the country with several specific IT goals [GCN, July 22, 2002, Page 9]. Many of the goals were optimistic from the start; others fell prey to the turbulence of merging 22 agencies. The results so far have, predictably, been poor to mixed. Here’s how DHS has performed against the administration’s original goals.

Goal: Build a dynamic homeland security architecture.
Performance: Largely achieved. The department has created two versions of its homeland security enterprise architecture so far. Though some critics point out that the existing enterprise architecture is “a mile wide and an inch deep,” the department is on its way to making the plan more detailed.

Goal: Create smart borders by integrating databases used to track people entering and leaving the country.
Performance: Partly achieved. The department has accelerated the entry-exit system it inherited from the Immigration and Naturalization Service. DHS is still in the process of fielding systems at border checkpoints to record transits, and the exit phase of the program remains in a very early stage. But this flagship program has received high-level attention and hundreds of millions of dollars in funding.

Goal: Use the Critical Infrastructure Protection Board to develop and promote IT security.
Performance: Not achieved. The department is not using the Critical Infrastructure Protection Board as its main IT security organization, and the National Cyber Security Division and the Chief Information Security Office are far from achieving their goals.

Goal: Create a national incident management system to help respond to terrorist attacks and natural disasters.
Performance: Poor progress. The department generally has relied on existing institutions to cope with natural disasters and terrorist attacks. The Defense Department’s Northern Command has developed detailed plans for coping with terrorist attacks, but the department itself lacks a strong planning office to prepare for attacks and disasters. The department’s networks and IT infrastructure remain a work in progress.

Goal: Establish a national laboratory for homeland security.
Performance: Partly achieved. The department’s Science and Technology Directorate has established some centers of excellence in specific technologies that have a bearing on homeland security needs. This year, according to department officials, the directorate has received orders to begin using its grant funds to provide technology that is closer to application than theoretical development. DHS appears to have chosen not to establish a full-fledged national laboratory for homeland security technology, but the strategy of planning and funding an array of projects at existing universities and other institutions could be a more efficient way to achieve the same goal.

Goal: Eliminate incompatibility among IT systems and remove legal and cultural barriers to data exchange.
Performance: Not achieved. Department officials themselves concede that DHS’ internal organization has fostered infighting and turf clashes. IT officials are working to iron out incompatibilities among the department’s own systems as well as those of the government agencies and other institutions with which it is supposed to be sharing data. However, vast cultural gaps and legal challenges remain.

Goal: Create systems to share information among government agencies and the private sector.
Performance: Not achieved. DHS’ information-sharing capabilities have been limited to a circumscribed “circle of trust” that excludes most companies and the public. DHS’ systems do not extend to many organizations involved in homeland security, though the department is continuing to build them out.

Goal: Capture information once and use it many times.
Performance: Not achieved. The department operates many incompatible systems that don’t share even basic information.

Goal: Develop metadata standards to help integrate databases.
Performance: Largely achieved. The department has worked with other agencies, especially those in the intelligence and law enforcement arenas, to develop metadata standards. However, many DHS systems do not comply with these standards.

Goal: Improve public safety and public health communications.
Performance: Not much has been achieved. Much of the work in public health remains a task for Health and Human Services Department agencies. Secretary Michael Chertoff’s reorganization plan calls for the establishment of a chief medical officer organization that will, starting this fall, begin to provide expert senior leadership in the field. The poster child technology problem of the terrorism response field—incompatible first-responder radios—remains years from resolution. n