Staff and resources for customs revenue functions have generally declined despite legislative steps to prevent that from happening based on concerns about the continued collection of customs revenue, the second largest revenue generator for the government.
In March 2003, shortly after the Customs Service was folded into DHS as the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, it reported a baseline of 2,263 staff in nine customs revenue positions, and 1,006 staff in associated support positions, which have since gone down.
Staff resources related to the collection of customs revenue declined partly due to department priorities and recruiting and retention problems, according to GAO-07-529.
It said that only recently has the number of staff in nine customs revenue positions reached mandated levels, that support staff associated with customs revenue positions has declined, as have the contributions of other DHS staff to customs revenue functions.
Further, the number of auditors in inspector general office reviewing customs issues has declined significantly, and they have not performed any customs revenue related performance audits since 2003, as they have primarily focused on security, the report said.