DHS completes roadmap for change

Congress is now reviewing the "Quadrennial Homeland Security Review". The 108-page document is the first-ever examination of the programs and priorities of the Department of Homeland Security since the agency was founded in 2003.

Along with the agency's budget which was also delivered to lawmakers earlier this week, the QHSR is also expected to become the basis for the possible adjustment of some DHS programs to reflect changing needs and priorities for the sprawling agency that is among the largest in the federal government.

To provide some analysis, and to remind us all what the QHSR is all about, we turned to Frank J. Cilluffo, director of the Homeland Security Policy Institute at the George Washington University, and a White House homeland security official from 2001 to 2003.

First, it's important to note that it was Congressionally mandated, requiring the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to report to Congress every four years. Its vision, mission, strategy, priorities, goals, and subsequent and future QHSR budget priorities in more specificity. Being the first one, this was obviously a herculean lift for the department. I think it did put together a structure and a framework that elevates questions in a positive kind of way, providing a kind of "roadmap" in being able to delineate the important from the super-important from the not-so-important.

Cilluffo notes that the QHSR, "delineates five mission areas: The first, being preventing terrorism, and enhancing security, but also four others:

• securing and managing our borders
• enforcing and administering our immigration laws
• safeguarding cyberspace
• and ensuring resilience to disasters."

Cilluffo notes that the last mission area was not specifically mentioned in the original enabling legislation that knit together 13 separate federal agencies into one in the wake of the 9/11 attacks nearly 9 years ago.

The QHSR notes prominently that the mission of protecting the nation's security does not fall to DHS alone, but is shared by state, local, and tribal entities across the nation as well. "First preventers and first responders obviously play a significant role here," says Cilluffo, "as well as international components."

Cillufo also notes from the report that DHS is currently undergoing a "bottom-up review which will get to some of the programmatic specifics in which further investment is desperately needed. All of this needs to be underpinned by a risk-based methodology and a risk-based assessment which currently does not exist."

The QHSR is unique in other ways, as well.

Last Fall, Federal News Radio reported on the conclusion of an unusual three-phased, web-based discussion that formed the basis for the QHSR delivered to Congress. That "national dialogue", which was administered by the National Academy of Public Administration, utilized an open web 2.0- style "blog" in which agency officials, stakeholders from the homeland security community including first responders, and interested members of the public, were invited to submit pertinent topics for discussion, and then to rate and prioritize those topics. Participants were asked to self-organize into "study groups" for purposes of futher discussion, and then writing final recommendations for the QHSR which were then compiled and refined by DHS staff.

"The Department deserves credit for the 'national dialogue'," said Cillufo, "where not only did you have the stakeholder community that plays an obvious and discrete role, but also the general public. I think the transparency and the approach to do so is important."

So far, the only response from Capitol Hill to the release of the QHSR comes from Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.

In a press statement, Thompson writes, "I am pleased that it recognizes homeland security as an 'enterprise' that is the shared responsibility of Federal, State, local, and tribal governments as well as the private sector. Additionally, the inclusion of 'Safeguarding and Securing Cyberspace' as an identified homeland security mission is another strength in this strategic framework."

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