Rep. Christopher Carney Holds a Hearing On Department of Homeland Security Management Challenges

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Rep. Christopher Carney Holds a Hearing On Department of Homeland Security Management Challenges

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY, SUBCOMMITTEE ON MANAGEMENT, INVESTIGATIONS, AND OVERSIGHT HOLDS A HEARING ON DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES

APRIL 9, 2008

SPEAKERS: REP. CHRISTOPHER CARNEY, D-PA. CHAIRMAN REP. PETER A. DEFAZIO, D-ORE. REP. YVETTE D. CLARKE, D-N.Y. REP. ED PERLMUTTER, D-COLO. REP. BILL PASCRELL JR., D-N.J. REP. BENNIE THOMPSON, D-MISS. EX OFFICIO

REP. MIKE D. ROGERS, R-ALA. RANKING MEMBER REP. THOMAS M. DAVIS III, R-VA. REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL, R-TEXAS REP. PETER T. KING, R-N.Y. EX OFFICIO

WITNESSES: ELAINE DUKE, DEPUTY UNDERSECRETARY FOR MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

NORMAN RABKIN, MANAGING DIRECTOR, HOMELAND SECURITY AND JUSTICE TEAM, GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE

CLARK KENT ERVIN, FORMER INSPECTOR GENERAL, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, DIRECTOR, HOMELAND SECURITY PROGRAM, ASPEN INSTITUTE

JAMES CARAFANO, SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW, DEFENSE AND HOMELAND SECURITY, HERITAGE FOUNDATION

[*] CARNEY: The Subcommittee of Management, Investigations and Oversight will come to order.

The subcommittee is meeting today to receive testimony on "Moving Beyond the First Five Years: Solving the Department of Homeland Security's Management Challenges."

After five years DHS stands at the proverbial fork in the road. One path is the easy way. Keep on wandering forward, never stopping to ask whether what you're doing makes sense or whether you need to rethink this route.

This way would lead the department to move to more wasteful contracts, painful congressional hearings, remaining as the butt of late night comedian's jokes, and, God forbid, perhaps another bungled Katrina response.

This route may well also lead to the breaking up of the department and result in our preparedness efforts being set back decades.

The other path requires taking a hard look at what has worked over the past five years and what has not. It requires setting aside pride and emotion, and where necessary, admitting error. It requires respecting those who conduct oversight, not resisting and resenting them.

This road will be hard and will not lead to instant success. Rather, it will bring slow, incremental improvements. But in five years there would still be a Department of Homeland Security, and it would be much improved from the one that we know today.

No large organization is perfect, whether in the public or private sector. We do not expect perfection, but organizations that are not accountable for their failings do not survive.

So what we ask is for accountability, introspection and gradual improvement. Five years from now, we need a department that has embraced the concept of one DHS, while still recognizing the special skills and missions of the individual components.

We need a department that has a full seat at the federal table, leading the government in preparing for and, if necessary, responding to the next disaster. We need a department that has enough contracting officers to develop and oversee its major procurements.

We need a department that does not rely on expensive contractors to perform the everyday functions that should be carried out by government workers.

The transition to the next presidential administration is a crucial point in the department's development. If...

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