Department of Homeland Security

The Department of Homeland Security did not always terminate personal identity verification (PIV) card access or withdraw security clearances for separated employees and contractors in accordance with Federal regulations and Department policies.

This alert informs you of an urgent issue we discovered during an ongoing audit and the actions CBP has taken to address the issues. Specifically, we found inadequate emergency back-up power for operating the Blaine Command Center’s centralized video surveillance system equipment and video...

Semiannual Report to Congress - April 1, 2022 - September 30, 2022

In March 2022, we conducted unannounced inspections of four U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities in the El Centro and San Diego areas of California, specifically two U.S. Border Patrol stations and two Office of Field Operations (OFO) ports of entry. Our inspections and subsequent...

The Department of Homeland Security did not consistently comply with NICS requirements from July 2019 to June 2021. FBI NICS examiners rely on NICS data to determine whether a person is eligible to purchase a firearm. However, DHS components did not submit the data to DOJ, as the United States Code...

We conducted this audit to determine the extent to which TSA retains, hires,and trains its TSOs to accomplish its screening mission. The scope of our auditfocused on FYs 2016–17.

DHS’ Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction’s (CWMD)BioWatch has information sharing challenges that reducenationwide readiness to respond to biological terrorismthreats. According to its mission statement, BioWatch isdesigned to operate a nationwide aerosol detection system.The system is intended...

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) cannot demonstrate how its oversight has improved Dams Sector security and resilience. We attribute this to CISA’s inadequate management of Dams Sector activities. Specifically, CISA has not:coordinated or tracked its Dams Sector...

We conducted covert tests to determine the effectiveness of TSA’s checked baggagescreening technologies, related procedures, and whether Transportation SecurityOfficers complied with screening policies and procedures. We identified vulnerabilitieswith TSA’s screener performance, associated...

We evaluated the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) enterprise-wide security program for Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information intelligence systems. Pursuant to the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014, we reviewed the Department’s security program, and system...