Senate report alleges billions in waste and mismanagement at Justice
Department says it already has taken steps to fix abuses, including spending too much time and resources as a Hollywood consultant.
The Justice Department has wasted more than $10 billion on unnecessary, duplicative or poorly managed programs and activities, according to a report released Thursday by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla.
report"With an increasing reliance on federal law enforcement to provide not only traditional domestic services, but also to protect the U.S. against the threat of terrorism and international crime, the Department of Justice cannot afford to waste valuable resources on unnecessary programs and costly management errors," the report stated.
The report detailed findings in 10 areas, including lost, stolen or unaccounted for equipment, and in a large section on conferences. The report said Justice has spent more than $311 million on conferences in seven years, sending 26,164 employees to more than 2,000 conferences in 2006 alone.
In response to the report, Justice spokeswoman Gina Talamona said it contained outdated information from an inspector general report issued last year and references conferences held two years ago.
"The department has already addressed concerns from the OIG report and procedures have been put in place to ensure more consistent reporting, oversight and tracking for conferences and related expenditures," Talamona wrote in an e-mail. "As an example, new guidelines were established in April 2008 to address conference approval, planning and cost reporting."
Coburn and his staff did not single out Justice, but also blamed Congress for the misuse of funds. While the department has mismanaged the funding it has received, the report stated, Congress ultimately is responsible for much of the appropriations inefficiency and duplication outlined in the report. Lawmakers have refused to eliminate redundant spending, failed to conduct necessary oversight and funded pet projects, the senator charged.
"If Congress spent as much time on oversight as they do on protecting their next election, the Department of Justice would be forced to improve management and improve the effectiveness of the mission and goals of the department," Coburn said.
The report made a number of recommendations for actions both Justice and Congress should take. Coburn recommended that Justice streamline duplicative programs and shift resources to high-performing initiatives; establish an online database of all grants; follow the laws and regulations for grant close-out processes; establish measurable outcomes and forms of accountability for all programs; establish a system to track the number of hours that its employees are absent without notification; and prioritize law enforcement over conferences and Hollywood consultation.
Coburn also recommended that his colleagues and House counterparts require competitive bidding for grants rather than permitting costly, earmarked pet projects; refrain from creating duplicative federal programs; terminate the National Drug Intelligence Center and assess whether any essential functions should be reassigned to another agency; and offset funding for grants by the amount of the questionable costs documented in inspector general reports.