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GAO-20-355PR 1 (2020-04-23)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaebas0001 and id is 1 raw text is: GAO U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 441 G St. N.W. Comptroller General Washington, DC 20548 of the United States April 23, 2020 The Honorable Chad F. Wolf Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Washington, D.C. 20528 Priority Open Recommendations: Department of Homeland Security The purpose of this letter is to provide an update on the overall status of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) implementation of GAO's recommendations and to call your personal attention to areas where open recommendations should be given high priority.1 In November 2019, we reported that on a government-wide basis, 77 percent of our recommendations made 4 years ago were implemented.2 DHS's recommendation implementation rate was 83 percent. As of March 2020, DHS had 390 open recommendations. Fully implementing all open recommendations could significantly improve DHS's operations. Since our April 2019 letter, DHS has implemented four of our 26 open priority recommendations. In doing so, DHS, as a member of the Mitigation Framework Leadership Group, published the National Mitigation Investment Strategy to identify, prioritize, and guide federal investments in disaster resilience and hazard mitigation-related activities. Additionally, the Coast Guard has taken steps to implement an electronic health record system. Finally, DHS has improved its collection of data on cybersecurity positions and developed guidance to identify cybersecurity critical needs that align to the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education framework. We ask your continued attention on the 22 priority recommendations remaining from those we identified in the 2019 letter. We also are adding seven new recommendations related to border security and immigration, transportation security, Coast Guard infrastructure, and cybersecurity, bringing the total number of priority recommendations to 29. (See enclosure for the list of recommendations). The 29 priority recommendations fall into the following six areas. Emergency Preparedness and Response. We have four priority recommendations in this area. The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) has been on our high-risk list since 2006, and while we have emphasized the need for Congress to enact comprehensive reform of the program, we have also identified three actions that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) could take to improve its administration of it. First, in October 2008, we recommended that FEMA take steps to ensure that its rate-setting methods and data result in 1Priority recommendations are those that GAO believes warrant priority attention from heads of key departments or agencies. They are highlighted because, upon implementation, they may significantly improve government operation, for example, by realizing large dollar savings; eliminating mismanagement, fraud, and abuse; or making progress toward addressing a high-risk or duplication issue. 2GAO, Performance and Accountability Report.- Fiscal Year 2018, GAO-20-1SP (Washington, D.C.: Nov.19, 2019). GAO-20-355PR DHS Priority Recommendations Page 1

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