The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has failed to meet a widerange of its promises, a house committee has claimed.
Prepared for the Democrat-leaning House Committee on HomelandSecurity, the report names 33 promises dating back to 2002 it sayshave not been fulfilled.
These range from preparedness for a range of possible terroristattacks at the country’s ports and airports, to a failure to makeprogress in formulating a plan for protecting critical nationalinfrastructure.
Furthermore, the US, has no means for assessing or identifyingcyber-attacks, leaving it open to the risk of failures of criticalcomputer systems. The report urges the U.S. Government to appointan Assistant Secretary for Cyber & Telecommunications, aspromised in the summer of 2005.
“There are many security gaps that leave out nation at risk,” thereport states. “From critical infrastructure protection to bordersecurity, more work needs to be done to protect the homeland.”
“It’s our job in Congress to hold the Department of HomelandSecurity accountable for the work that it does and doesn’t do. Itwould be one thing if the Department didn’t identify securitylapses in the first place, but a more troubling situation when theymake promises to the American people and then leave themunfulfilled,” Democrat ranking committee member Bennie G. Thompsonwas quoted as saying.
