The Department of Homeland Security Inspector General has
come out with an audit faulting IT support and capability
in the Emergency Preparedness and Response Directorate,
responsible for coordinating disaster relief.
The report, predating Hurricane Katrina, says that while
the EP-and-R chief information officer had been making
progress with IT planning, the agency’s first IT strategic
plan does not reflect the integration of the Federal
Emergency Management Agency into DHS, and may not support
the department’s goals.
The audit called for additional guidance and training for
IT systems users, saying FEMA personnel are often unaware
of online systems procedure manuals and guidance, which
themselves tend to lack the “business context” for when and
how they should be used.
“Users said they received insufficient training” on
EP-and-R’s custom, complex systems, which are “not
integrated and do not effectively support information
exchange during response and recovery operations,” according
to the audit.
