DHS Leadership Vacancies May Pose Security Risk

July 23, 2007

In a July 2007 report from the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security, committee members raised concern that vacancies of top level positions at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) could increase U.S. vulnerability to terrorist attacks. According to the report, as of May 1, 2007, 24 percent (or 138 of 575) of "executive resource" positions at DHS remained unstaffed. Executive resource positions are defined as presidential appointments with or without Senate confirmation requirements, career and non-career senior executive service appointments and non-executive senior level and scientific/professional positions above a GS-15 level in the federal employment grading system.

Vacancies at DHS were further broken down by department. Departments with vacancies greater than the agency average of 24 percent were deemed by the committee to be "at risk." Of the eight DHS""at-risk" departments: the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy has 11 of 23 executive positions open (48 percent); the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Intelligence has 8 of 22 senior positions unfilled (36 percent); and the Federal Emergency Management Agency has 24 of 77 executive positions open (31 percent).

In its assessment of the nation's vulnerability to attack, the Committee report also refers to a June 2, 2007, National Journal article, which cautions that, due to the large number of political appointees in leadership positions, the mission of the DHS could be severely jeopardized by the Cabinet changes that a new presidential administration will bring in January 2009. The article says, "As the Bush administration's days wind down, the government's level of vulnerability - and the nation's risk level - increase, and they will stay high until the next president gets on his or her feet."

According to Stephen Flynn, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, during the transition from one administration to the next, Cabinet departments "have civil servants that step in" as acting officials. However, at DHS few career officials are in positions of senior or middle management. The National Journal reports that at its inception in 2003 DHS was run almost exclusively by political appointees or federal officials on loan from other agencies, due to the haste with which the agency was stood up and the lengthy federal hiring process. Before the 2004 election, the DHS secretary, deputy secretary, chief of staff and most of the assistant secretaries, undersecretaries and their deputies were political appointees. The article notes that although it is not uncommon for political appointees to staff government policy, public affairs and legislative liaison offices, at the DHS, political appointees also head nearly all of the agency's branches. DHS retains the largest number of political appointees of all federal agencies, including the Department of Defense.

References

1. Majority Staff report: Critical leadership vacancies impede United States Department of Homeland Security. U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security. July 2007. Available at: http://homeland.house.gov/SiteDocuments/20070709112923-81091.pdf Accessed July 12, 2007.

2. Harris S. Homeland security: the coming storm. National Journal. June 2, 2007. Available at: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0607/060107nj1.htm. Accessed July 12, 2007.

- Center for Biosecurity

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