While President Obama recently proclaimed that al-Qaida's ability to
attack on U.S. soil has been greatly diminished, his Homeland Security
Department has gone on a shopping binge that has added more than $32.5
billion in annual spending since George W. Bush left office.
The Government Accountability Office, the auditing arm of Congress, reports that spending in the 16 largest Homeland Security programs grew a whopping 166 percent between 2008 and 2011. And 2012 was budgeted to grow even more, though final figures won't be available until after fiscal year ends later this month, the auditors said.
In a report this week, GAO blamed poor coordination for the rapid growth of spending and warned the situation left Homeland in a potentially difficult position with upcoming automatic budget cuts due to take effect from last year's debt deal between Congress and the White House.
"Given the fiscal challenges facing the federal government, funding shortfalls may become an increasingly common challenge at DHS, leading to further cost growth that widens the gap between resource requirements and available funding," the GAO said.
For creating an environment that has allowed spending to explode while threats have diminished, the Homeland Security Department wins this week's Golden Hammer, a distinction awarded by the Washington Guardian to an extreme example of government waste, fraud, abuse or unnecessary spending.
The agency responded to the GAO's rebuke by saying it is already fixing the problems and expects the situation to get better soon ."The Department's program performance data are more accurate, complete, and transparent, and leadership has greater awareness of potential program risks," said Jim Crumpacker, the department's laison to the GAO.
Read more: http://www.washingtonguardian.com/homeland-shopping-network?utm_source=TPN%20Auto%201&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=4599
The Government Accountability Office, the auditing arm of Congress, reports that spending in the 16 largest Homeland Security programs grew a whopping 166 percent between 2008 and 2011. And 2012 was budgeted to grow even more, though final figures won't be available until after fiscal year ends later this month, the auditors said.
In a report this week, GAO blamed poor coordination for the rapid growth of spending and warned the situation left Homeland in a potentially difficult position with upcoming automatic budget cuts due to take effect from last year's debt deal between Congress and the White House.
"Given the fiscal challenges facing the federal government, funding shortfalls may become an increasingly common challenge at DHS, leading to further cost growth that widens the gap between resource requirements and available funding," the GAO said.
For creating an environment that has allowed spending to explode while threats have diminished, the Homeland Security Department wins this week's Golden Hammer, a distinction awarded by the Washington Guardian to an extreme example of government waste, fraud, abuse or unnecessary spending.
The agency responded to the GAO's rebuke by saying it is already fixing the problems and expects the situation to get better soon ."The Department's program performance data are more accurate, complete, and transparent, and leadership has greater awareness of potential program risks," said Jim Crumpacker, the department's laison to the GAO.
Read more: http://www.washingtonguardian.com/homeland-shopping-network?utm_source=TPN%20Auto%201&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=4599
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