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Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General
Introduction
Terrorist and criminal "watch lists" are important tools for controlling and protecting U.S. borders. Traditionally, federal agencies have used various means, developed in response to their individual missions, to manage watch list information. The attacks of September 11, 2001, underscored the need for standardization and consolidation of the terrorist watch lists to help ensure homeland security. According to the Homeland Security Act of 2002,1 DHS is to play a major role in watch list consolidation activities.
As part of its ongoing responsibilities to evaluate the effectiveness of DHS programs and activities, the OIG conducted a review of terrorist watch list consolidation efforts- The objectives of the review were to: (1) determine DHS' role in working with other federal agencies to consolidate terrorist watch list systems and operations in response to recent legislation and executive branch direction; (2) evaluate the effectiveness of plans and activities to standardize and consolidate the watch lists to address the new requirements; and (3) identify any obstacles or challenges encountered and determine whether changes to the interagency systems integration approach are needed. The scope and methodology of this review are discussed in Appendix A.
Results in Brief
DHS is not playing a lead role in consolidating terrorist watch list information. Instead, these consolidation activities are generally administered by the entities that were responsible for collecting and disseminating terrorist information prior to DHS" formation- DHS officials said that the new department lacked the resources and infrastructure to assume leadership for the consolidation. While this contention has merit, DHS can still play a more robust role than at present by overseeing and coordinating watch list consolidation activities across agency lines. Such oversight would help DHS fulfill the role required by the Homeland Security Act and better ensure that the past ad hoc approach to managing watch list consolidation is not continued.
Stronger DHS leadership and oversight would also help improve current watch list consolidation efforts. Although some progress toward streamlined processes and enhanced interagency information sharing has been made, the consolidation is hampered by a number of issues that have not been coordinated effectively among interagency participants. Specifically, in the absence of central leadership and oversight for the watch list consolidation, planning, budgeting, staffing, and requirements definition continue to be dealt with on an ad hoc basis, posing a risk to successful accomplishment of the goal. A number of additional challenges, such as identifying links between violent criminals and terrorism, privacy, and duplicative federal activities related to watch list programs, could be pursued in the context of a centrally coordinated approach to watch list management.
Background
Effective use of information technology (IT) is fundamental for the federal government to accomplish its counterterrorism mission- For example, compiling automated data on potential or known terrorists to check against the names of foreigners entering or already present in the U.S. is one critical means of protecting the homeland. In April 2003, the General Accounting Office, recently renamed as the Government Accountability Office (GAO), reported that nine federal agencies used 12 separate systems and databases, each developed in response to the agencies' individual legal, cultural, and systems environments, to support federal law enforcement and border security processes.2
Generally called "watch lists," these systems actually serve a variety of purposes and contain different types of information. For example, the Department of State's Consular Lookout and Support System was designed to support visa and passport issuance. U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) Interagency Border Inspection System facilitates border crossing inspections and includes information on potential terrorists, as well as people suspected of narcotics trafficking or other law enforcement violations. The Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Violent Gang and Terrorist Organization File helps manage information on organized criminal activities, including domestic terrorism. Further, the Transportation Security Administration's "no-fly" and selectee lists are used to determine whether a person may board an airplane.
1Public Law 107-296 (Nov. 25, 2002), codified at 6 USC 101 et seq.
2Information Technology: Terrorist Watch Lists Should Be Consolidated to Promote Better Integration and Sharing. VS. General Accounting Office (GAO-03-322, April 2003).
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