Homeland Defense: DOD Needs to Take Actions to Enhance Interagency Coordination for Its Homeland Defense and Civil Support Missions
GAO-10-364
Published: Mar 30, 2010. Publicly Released: Apr 29, 2010.
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Highlights
Numerous occurrences in the United States--both scheduled events and emergencies--require the Department of Defense (DOD) to coordinate, integrate, and synchronize its homeland defense and civil support missions with a broad range of U.S. federal agencies. In response to congressional inquiry, GAO examined the extent to which DOD has (1) identified clearly defined roles and responsibilities for DOD entities to facilitate interagency coordination for homeland defense and civil support missions, (2) articulated to its federal partners the DOD entities' approach toward interagency coordination, and (3) adopted key practices for managing homeland defense and civil support liaisons. GAO reviewed numerous DOD policy and guidance documents and interviewed officials from DOD and its partner agencies, including the departments of Homeland Security, Justice, Health and Human Services, and Agriculture; and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Defense | To more clearly define roles and responsibilities for interagency coordination within DOD, the Secretary of Defense should establish a time line and update and ensure the integration and comprehensiveness of DOD policy and guidance that delineate the roles and responsibilities of and relationships between DOD entities, such as Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Americas' Security Affairs (ASD/HD), the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict and Interdependent Capabilities, the combatant commands, the National Guard Bureau, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and DOD intelligence agencies. Specifically, updates of such policy and guidance should include: (1) DOD's Strategy for Homeland Defense and Civil Support; (2) DOD's law enforcement support policy (or policies) that address the different missions of such support, including civil support, counterdrug, and counterterrorism support; (3) DOD's series of civil support policies and guidance (i.e., DOD's directive and instruction 3025 series); (4) DOD's joint interagency coordination guidance (i.e., Joint Publication 3-08), ensuring sufficient and comprehensive coverage of homeland defense and civil support interagency coordination requirements and partners; and (5) a policy document that clearly and specifically defines the relationships among ASD/HD, NORTHCOM, and other combatant commanders, including interagency coordination and external communication roles and responsibilities for homeland defense and civil support. | In response to this recommendation, DOD issued the following strategies, polcies, guidance, and joint doctrine documents: (a)an updated Homeland Defense and Civil Support Strategy; (b) DOD Directive 3025.18, Defense Support of Civil Authorities; (c) DOD Directive 3025.13, Employment of DOD Capabilities in Support of the U.S. Secret Service (USSS), Department of Homeland Security (DHS); (c) DOD Instruction 3025.19, Procedures for Sharing Information with and Providing Support to the U.S. Secret Service (USSS), Department Of Homeland Security (DHS); (d) DOD Instruction 3025.20, Defense Support of Special Events; (e) DOD Instruction 3025.21, Defense Support for Civilian Law Enforcement... Agencies; (f) an updated Joint Publication 3-08, Interorganizational Coordination During Joint Operations, in June 2011; and (g) an updated Joint Publication 3-28, Defense Support of Civil Authorities, in July 2013. We believe these actions meet the intent of our recommendation and that DOD is better positioned to enhance and institutionalize its interagency coordination efforts for homeland defense and civil support.
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| Department of Defense | To facilitate and institutionalize a unified approach between DOD and its federal partners for interagency coordination for homeland defense and civil support missions, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, in coordination with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to establish a time line to develop and issue a partner guide that identifies the roles and responsibilities of DOD entities, processes, and agreed-upon approaches for interagency coordination for homeland defense and civil support efforts. |
In November 2011, in response to our recommendation, DOD issued its Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA) Interagency Partner Guide. A copy of the partner guide can be obtained on DOD's website at http://policy.defense.gov/hdasa/references/refdocs/dsca_interagency_partner_guide.pdf. We believe this action meets the intent of our recommendation and that the guide will provide incoming personnel from both DOD and other agencies information that could enhance their mutual understanding and facilitate a unified and institutionalized approach to interagency coordination.
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| Department of Defense | To ensure that DOD has adopted and implemented key practices for managing homeland defense and civil support liaisons, the Secretary of Defense should direct ASD/HD, in coordination with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to establish a time line to ensure implementation of DOD's current instruction on the tracking of DOD liaisons assignments to other federal agencies, as well as the establishment of position descriptions for uniformed military and DOD civilian personnel. | In response to this recommendation, in October 2013, the Deputy Secretary of Defense and the Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security signed an updated memorandum of agreement that addressed the exchange of liaisons within the national capital region. Appendix A of the agreement identifies the descriptions of all DOD liaisons authorized to represent a DOD component at DHS headquarters. In an effort to manage the number of liaisons at DHS headquarters, the agreement stipulates that liaisons must be specifically referenced in Appendix A if the liaisons are to remain at DHS within the national capital region. Additional liaisons cannot be added without amending the memorandum of...
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| Department of Defense | To ensure that DOD has adopted and implemented key practices for managing homeland defense and civil support liaisons, the Secretary of Defense should direct ASD/HD, in coordination with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to establish a time line to develop and issue additional workforce management policy and guidance regarding DOD liaisons to other federal agencies, as well as other federal agencies' liaisons to DOD. Such policy and guidance should ensure that: (1) routine staffing-needs assessments are conducted; (2) position descriptions or memoranda of understanding are developed; (3) appropriate interagency coordination training is available to liaisons; and (4) routine performance assessments of liaison personnel are conducted, to include feedback from the host agency or component. | In October 2013, the Deputy Secretary of Defense and the Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security signed an updated memorandum of agreement that addressed the exchange of liaisons within the national capital region. The agreement, which was updated in October 2013, includes a section that states that DOD and its components will ensure that workforce management policy and guidance for its liaison cadre at DHS and its components are structured in a manner that ensures that: (1) regular assessments are conducted in accordance with individual interagency agreements, with DHS participation and input, to establish the continuing need for each DoD liaison positioned at DHS and its...
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