Critical Releases in Homeland Security: April 17, 2013

"As the fiscal pressures facing the nation continue, so too does the need for executive branch agencies and Congress to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of government programs and activities. Opportunities to take such action exist in areas where federal programs or activities are fragmented, overlapping, or duplicative. To highlight these challenges and to inform government decision makers on actions that could be taken to address them, GAO [Government Accountability Office] is statutorily required to identify and report annually to Congress on federal programs, agencies, offices, and initiatives, either within departments or government-wide, that have duplicative goals or activities. In light of today's challenging fiscal environment, we have also identified additional opportunities to achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness by means of cost savings or enhanced revenue collection. In March 2011, we issued our first annual report in this series, which presented 80 areas where opportunities existed for executive branch agencies or Congress to reduce fragmentation, overlap, or duplication; achieve cost savings; or enhance revenue. Figure 1 outlines the definitions we use for fragmentation, overlap, and duplication for this work. In February 2012, we issued our second annual report, which identified an additional 51 areas. In these two reports, we have identified a total of approximately 300 actions that executive branch agencies and Congress could take to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of government programs and activities."

"Cybersecurity is a sprawling topic that includes national, international, government, and private industry dimensions. In the 113th Congress, one bill has been introduced in the Senate and two in the House. More than 40 bills and resolutions with provisions related to cybersecurity were introduced in the first session of the 112th Congress, including several proposing revisions to current laws. In the 111th Congress, the total was more than 60. Several of those bills received committee or floor action, but none have become law. In fact, no comprehensive cybersecurity legislation has been enacted since 2002. This report provides links to cybersecurity hearings and legislation under consideration in the 113th and 112th Congresses, as well as executive orders and presidential directives, data and statistics, glossaries, and authoritative reports."

This is the April 12, 2013 hearing, "Impact of Sequestration on Homeland Security: Scare Tactics or Possible Threat?" before House Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Oversight and Management Efficiency. From the statement Jeff Duncan: "Airport screening lines that are hours long, borders vulnerable to illegal aliens, stalled commerce at our border crossings; these are just some of the devastating impacts that the Administration said were inevitable because of the 5% budget cut for DHS due to sequestration. On March 1, 2013 sequestration took effect, resulting in a series of automatic, across the board spending cuts for the federal government. With a national debt growing by the second, it's time that the US Government take a hard look at it's out of control spending. If properly planned, budget cuts, due to sequestration, should not dangerously compromise our homeland security. Doomsday rhetoric to put fear into the American people is not the way our government should operate - especially now that most of these predictions have not come to fruition." Statements, letters, and materials submitted for the record include those of the following: Jeff Duncan, Ron Barber, Bennie G. Thompson, Rafael Borras, Thomas S. Winkowski, John Halinski, Daniel H. Ragsdale, Brandon Judd, and Colleen Kelley.