Andrew B. Maner

Homeland Security
Andrew B. Maner
Chief Financial Officer

In the 20 months Andrew B. Maner has been the Homeland Security Department's chief financial officer, his status on the organizational chart has been a topic of frequent debate. Lawmakers first questioned whether he had enough sway to perform his job. Lately, Rep. Todd Platts, R-Pa., has been on the department's case to replace Maner with a Senate-confirmed CFO, as required by a law passed last October, which subjects Homeland Security to the 1990 Chief Financial Officers Act.

The same law also leaves Homeland Security as the first federal agency required to obtain an audit opinion on internal controls-systems of checks and balances to protect against waste and fraud. The process can be expensive, and DHS will have to get started in fiscal 2006.

Maner also was left to sort out the mess when the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau, created from pieces of the legacy Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Customs Service, came up short $500 million for fiscal 2004. It's unclear whether ICE is still short on funds, Maner says.

Another hurdle is eMerge2, a project to connect financial data across the department, which is stalled as Maner rethinks his vision for the work. Some say Maner should expand the Coast Guard's already developed accounting system, rather than letting BearingPoint Inc. continue work on its $229 million contract to develop the departmentwide system.

But Maner, who earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, likes challenges. He started his government career in the White House press office of George H.W. Bush. In the early 1990s, he assisted nation-building efforts in Somalia. After a stint in the private sector, he returned to government as chief of staff to Robert Bonner, commissioner of the Customs and Border Protection bureau.