DHS has established mechanisms including an intelligence framework and an analytic planning process to better integrate analysis activities throughout the department, but the mechanisms are not functioning as intended, GAO has said.
It said, for example, that the framework does not establish strategic departmental intelligence priorities that can be used to inform annual planning decisions, such as what analytic activities to pursue and the level of investment to make, as called for in DHS guidance.
DHS’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis argues it can be challenging for DHS components to focus on developing both strategic priorities and more tactical priorities that support their specific operations, according to GAO-14-397.
However, GAO said I&A customers have mixed views on the extent to which the analytic products and services are useful – with DHS leadership and state, local, tribal, and territorial partners finding them useful and DHS components, the intelligence community, and the private sector generally not finding them useful.
DHS agreed with recommendations to establish strategic intelligence priorities and use them to inform analytic activities and establish mechanisms to evaluate workforce initiatives and use the results to determine any needed changes.
