Probe raises doubts over focus of DHS agency's investigations

The Homeland Security agency responsible for investigating criminal and terrorist activity inside the United States might not be making the best use of its resources and could be missing important leads to disrupt possible acts of terrorism, government inspectors told lawmakers Tuesday.

The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement only puts about 15 percent of its investigative resources toward cases that have a national security or terrorism connection, Richard Stana, GAO's director of homeland security and justice, told the House Government Reform National Security Subcommittee during a hearing.

Stana said ICE has not done a comprehensive assessment to determine where it should focus resources and which cases should be given top priority. Instead, the agency focuses mainly on missions done by the former Immigration and Naturalization Service and Customs Service, both of which were dismantled in 2003 when the Homeland Security Department was created.

For example, half of ICE's investigative resources from 2004 through the middle of 2005 were put toward cases related to drugs, financial crimes and illegal immigration, GAO concluded in a report released at the hearing.

Stana said GAO did not find any evidence that ICE has failed to investigate a national security-related lead. But he said after the hearing that he is not certain that ICE has not missed anything because the agency has not done a comprehensive assessment.

Coordination problems between ICE and the Customs and Border Protection agency also continue, even though both are part of the same department, said Homeland Security Inspector General Richard Skinner.

Skinner told the panel that ICE and CBP may be missing important opportunities to pursue counterterrorism cases. He said his office found "extreme frustration" within CBP that ICE was not being responsive to cases, leading CBP to establish its own program for investigating leads.

"Like sand in the gears, some cases still trigger bureaucratic turf battles and clog interagency communication and cooperation channels between ICE and other investigative forces inside and outside DHS," said National Security Subcommittee Chairman Christopher Shays, R-Conn. "And miscast investigative priorities can appear to target enforcement activity arbitrarily or inappropriately on persons who pose little real threat to our national security."

ICE officials disputed some findings by GAO and the inspector general.

Robert Schoch, deputy director of the agency's national security division, disagreed with GAO's assessment that only 15 percent of investigative resources are put toward national security cases.

He told the subcommittee most of what ICE does is intended to prevent a situation from turning into a national security or terrorism case. He said the agency arrests illegal immigrants working at critical infrastructure sites, for example, which removes them before they have a chance to carry out a potential plot.

ICE spokesman Dean Boyd said after the hearing that GAO looked at how cases are "coded," or filed. He said a case might be "coded" as a financial crimes investigation, but turn into a counterterrorism case. He added that ICE plans to revise its case filing system to more accurately reflect what each case entails.

Schoch also said coordination between ICE and CBP is improving. He said officials from both ICE and CBP provide staffing at the National Targeting Center, an around-the-clock antiterrorism facility, and also sit on an interagency coordinating council. He added that ICE agents will always respond when CBP encounters somebody on a terrorist watchlist.

"While we appreciate the GAO study, we take exception to some of their findings," Schoch said. "There are a number of efforts that ICE and CBP together are making to try and harmonize our efforts."

The inspector general issued a controversial report last fall recommending that ICE and CBP should be merged. Both Stana and Skinner backed off on that recommendation Tuesday, saying Homeland Security officials should be given more time to make changes.

"I think the best thing they can do right now is let [ICE] mature, let it stabilize," Stana said.

Skinner agreed. He said Homeland Security has initiated several overhauls since last fall, such as dissolving the Border and Transportation Security Directorate, having ICE and CBP report directly to the secretary and creating the Secure Border Initiative, which is intended to coordinate all resources for border security.

Skinner said he has not yet looked into whether the reforms have been effective, but added that his office will conduct a review this summer.