The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS's) internal watchdog, the Office of the Inspector General, has released another report scrutinizing the DHS. The new report, called "Review of DHS' Progress in Adopting and Enforcing Equipment Standards for First Responders," was released just days after the Inspector General concluded that the widespread criticism of the government's sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina was largely deserved (see 4/14/06 FRC blog).

Homeland Security Watch, again, does a nice job of summarizing the report:

The Inspector General's new report looks at the office within the Science and Technology (S&T) directorate that is responsible for establishing standards, and reviews the office's slow progress in developing and implementing a standards-setting process for first responder equipment. The report notes progress in developing standards in a few areas, but nothing that resembles a broad approach. It also comments on the fact that no new standards [have been developed] since February 2004.

The report makes six recommendations about what DHS can do to improve the standards-setting process. Among them:

(1) Determine methods by which the time required to adopt standards can be accelerated;

(2) Establish quantifiable performance measures to achieve more timely adoption of standards;

(3) Mandate that all equipment purchased by first responders, using ODP grant funds, complies with corresponding standards adopted by S&T.

The FRC wholeheartedly agrees with Homeland Security Watch when they say that "DHS needs to address these recommendations if it is going to maximize the interoperability of first responders in a crisis and ensure that homeland security grant funds are not wasted."