Lawmakers blast DHS officials for slow response to data requests

The Homeland Security Department has failed to tell Congress how it is spending billions of dollars on major programs ranging from aviation security to Gulf Coast rebuilding, House appropriators said Thursday.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff responded to the criticisms by calling the department's performance "unacceptable" and saying the situation would improve.

Democrats and Republicans have hammered the department during three straight days of hearings for failing to provide timely information to Congress and for delaying federal investigations of its programs and spending.

During a hearing Thursday, House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman David Price, D-N.C., said the department owes Congress 11 expenditure plans dealing with billions in spending on "high-dollar programs."

"We're not asking for anything very novel here," Price told Chertoff during the hearing. "We're really asking for the kind of planning documents that should be routine."

Price's aides said later that the department actually owes Congress 12 plans, covering such topics as explosives detection programs, airport screening and information technology.

The criticism is likely to continue Friday, when Chertoff appears before the full House Homeland Security Committee to discuss the agency's fiscal 2008 budget request.

Chertoff issued an executive order to managers saying performance expectations will now include responding quickly to congressional requests and will be taken into account during performance reviews and when making personnel decisions.

"I find the department's inability to deliver reports and answers to questions from Congress in a timely and accurate manner unacceptable," Chertoff wrote.

The order also withholds bonuses or awards for employees who are responsible for overdue reports until the backlogs are eliminated.

Price said his subcommittee has heard of "repeated instances" in which the department has "hindered" federal investigations by "sanitizing information" and not allowing employees to be interviewed without lawyers present.

He said the issue is not that information is being denied but contended it is "cumbersome" to get information out of the department.

For example, Government Accountability Office Comptroller General David Walker told lawmakers this week that his investigations have run into obstacles from the department's office of general counsel, which up until Tuesday was run by Philip Perry, Vice President Dick Cheney's son-in-law.

Walker said he understands lawyers from Perry's office have to review documents that GAO seeks before they are released and selectively sit in on interviews with department employees.

Homeland Security Inspector General Richard Skinner told CongressDaily he has had problems dealing with the Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection and the Science and Technology Directorate. He said his office has had to use back channels to interview employees, calling them at night in order to talk to them without their supervisors being involved.

Skinner said, however, that he has not had problems dealing with Perry's office.

A department spokesman said suggestions that Perry blocked access to information were "baseless," adding, "The department goes to great lengths to facilitate information sharing with the IG and GAO."

The spokesman said it makes sense to have lawyers in some interviews to protect sensitive information.