United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2008-02-13 monographic deposited born digital 29 p. GA 1.13:GAO-08-457T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-457T P0b002ee180381353 f:d08457t DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-457T machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-457T GAO-08-457T Accountability Agency missions Combating terrorism Critical infrastructure Critical infrastructure protection Emergency management Emergency preparedness Emergency response Emergency response plans Federal agency reorganization Financial management Homeland security Internal controls Performance measures Program management Risk assessment Risk management Strategic planning Terrorism Terrorists Program goals or objectives Program implementation Transparency GAO High Risk Series Testimony A80732 The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) began operations in March 2003 with missions that include preventing terrorist attacks from occurring within the United States, reducing U.S. vulnerability to terrorism, minimizing damages from attacks that occur, and helping the nation recover from any attacks. GAO has reported that the implementation and transformation of DHS is an enormous management challenge and that the size, complexity, and importance of the effort make the challenge especially daunting and critical to the nation's security. GAO's prior work on mergers and acquisitions found that successful transformations of large organizations, even those faced with less strenuous reorganizations than DHS, can take at least 5 to 7 years to achieve. This testimony is based on GAO's August 2007 report evaluating DHS's progress between March 2003 and July 2007, selected reports issued since July 2007, and our institutional knowledge of homeland security issues. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-457T/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-457T.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-457T/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-457T.pdf GAO-08-457T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-457T Testimony GAO-08-457T; Department of Homeland Security: Progress Made in Implementation of Management and Mission Functions, but More Work Remains; Accountability Agency missions Combating terrorism Critical infrastructure Critical infrastructure protection Emergency management Emergency preparedness Emergency response Emergency response plans Federal agency reorganization Financial management Homeland security Internal controls Performance measures Program management Risk assessment Risk management Strategic planning Terrorism Terrorists Program goals or objectives Program implementation Transparency GAO High Risk Series Volume 121 Page 1844 121 Stat. 1844 Public Law 110-161