Page 1 GAO-25-108010 DHS Priority Recommendations
Comptroller General
of the United States
May 14, 2025
The Honorable Kristi Noem
Secretary of Homeland Security
Washington, D.C. 20528
Priority Open Recommendations: Department of Homeland Security
Dear Secretary Noem:
Congratulations on your appointment. The purpose of this letter is to call your personal attention
to five areas based on GAO’s past work and 39 open priority recommendations, which are
enclosed.
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Additionally, there are 409 other GAO open recommendations that we will continue
to work with your staff to address.
We are highlighting the following areas that warrant your timely and focused attention.
Specifically:
Improving Emergency Preparedness and Response. As we highlighted in GAO’s new high-
risk area on Improving the Delivery of Federal Disaster Assistance, the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) needs to act to better help local communities to withstand,
respond to, and recover from disasters. For instance, as the lead federal agency for emergency
management, FEMA needs to work with the more than 30 federal entities to better manage
fragmentation across their federal disaster recovery programs. As you evaluate FEMA’s role,
the priority recommendations highlighted in this letter would help FEMA improve service delivery
to disaster survivors and communities and more effectively manage the federal government’s
fiscal exposure by better aligning fragmented federal disaster recovery efforts and targeting
federal resources to where they are most needed.
Enhancing Information Technology and Cybersecurity. The Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) invests billions of dollars each year to acquire IT and other capabilities to
support the department’s functions. Our work has shown that many of DHS’s major IT
acquisition programs have taken longer than expected to develop or have failed to deliver the
desired value. For example, the Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology (HART) program
faced significant delays, but DHS has yet to incorporate best practices in its schedule estimate.
Implementing GAO’s recommendations related to improving acquisition programs would help
DHS limit schedule delays and improve service delivery and information sharing. We monitor
challenges such as these as part of the Improving IT Acquisitions and Management high-risk
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GAO considers a recommendation to be a priority if when implemented, it may significantly improve government
operations, for example, by realizing large dollar savings; eliminating mismanagement, fraud, and abuse; or making
progress toward addressing a high-risk or duplication issue.
