After looking into field-based information sharing entities such as the Joint Terrorism Task Forces and major urban area fusion centers, GAO has said it found 91 instances of overlap in some analytical activities such as producing intelligence reports and 32 instances of overlap in investigative support activities, such as identifying links between criminal organizations.
It said these entities – also including regional information sharing system, or RISS, centers, drug trafficking investigative support centers, or HIDTAs, and field intelligence groups that make up part of a sprawling homeland security complex – conducted similar activities within the same mission area, such as counterterrorism, for similar customers, such as federal or state agencies.
While this can lead to benefits such as the corroboration of information, it may also burden customers with redundant information, according to GAO-13-471.
It said it also found that RISS centers and HIDTAs operate three different systems that duplicate the same function of identifying when different law enforcement entities may be conducting a similar enforcement action, such as a raid at the same location.
Agencies have neither held entities accountable for coordinating nor assessed opportunities for further enhancing coordination to help reduce the potential for overlap and achieve efficiencies, said GAO.
The ranking member on the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, Tom Coburn, R-Okla., cited the report lamenting a "waste of taxpayer funds," and concluding, "Clearly, government agencies are not coordinating their efforts to secure our nation."
GAO called on the Office of National Drug Control Policy to work with HIDTA officials to establish time frames to connect systems. It also recommended that DHS, DOJ, and ONDCP develop measures to hold entities accountable for coordination and assess opportunities to enhance coordination, and for the program managers for the information-sharing environment to report on the results of the agencies’ efforts to assess coordination.
The affected agencies agreed, with Justice noting it was already taking such actions.
