Additional Priority Open Recommendations: Department of Homeland Security
Fast Facts
Each year, we make more than 1,000 recommendations to help improve the federal government. We alert department heads to where they can save the most money, address issues on our High Risk List, or significantly improve government operations.
In August 2021, we outlined 38 priority open recommendations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This report identifies 2 additional priority open recommendations—related to domestic intelligence and information sharing—which we made in an August 2021 report on DHS's special event designations as related to the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021.
Highlights
What GAO Found
In August 2021, GAO identified 38 priority recommendations for the Department of Homeland Security. GAO is now adding two recommendations related to domestic intelligence and information sharing, bringing the total number of priority recommendations to 40. These additional two recommendations are from GAO's August 2021 report on DHS's special event designations as related to the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021.
DHS's continued attention to the issues addressed in these 40 recommendations could lead to significant improvements in government operations.
Why GAO Did This Study
Priority open recommendations are the GAO recommendations that warrant priority attention from heads of key departments or agencies because their implementation could save large amounts of money; improve congressional and/or executive branch decision-making on major issues; eliminate mismanagement, fraud, and abuse; or ensure that programs comply with laws and funds are legally spent, among other benefits. Since 2015, GAO has sent letters to selected agencies to highlight the importance of implementing such recommendations.
For more information, contact Charles Michael Johnson, Jr. at (202) 512-8777 or johnsoncm@gao.gov.