Container Security: Expansion of Key Customs Programs Will Require Greater Attention to Critical Success Factors

In January 2002, the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection (CBP) rolled out a new program, called the Container Security Initiative (CSI), to address the threat that terrorists might use maritime cargo containers to ship weapons of mass destruction. In July 2003, GAO recommended that the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, working with the Commissioner of CBP, develop a human capital plan for CSI that describes how it will recruit, train, and retain staff and identifies staffing requirements. GAO noted that CBP had focused on short-term planning and had not taken adequate steps to incorporate key factors necessary for the program's long-term success and accountability. In response to our recommendation, CBP took steps to develop a human capital plan. In April 2005, GAO reported that CBP had developed a staffing model to determine the staff needed to target containers; however, GAO noted that at some ports CBP had not been able to staff the CSI teams at the levels called for in the CSI staffing model. In addition, GAO noted that the model contributed to CBP's reliance on placing staff overseas at CSI ports. In May 2006, CBP completed a human capital plan for CSI that revised the original staffing model and adjusted it to include augmenting overseas CSI teams with targeters stationed at the National Targeting Center in the United States to support the workload at high volume ports. The plan also addresses recruiting, training and retention of staff and other human capital issues for CSI over the next 5 years.

In January 2002, the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection (CBP) rolled out a new program, called the Container Security Initiative (CSI), to address the threat that terrorists might use maritime cargo containers to ship weapons of mass destruction. In July 2003, GAO recommended that the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, working with the Commissioner of CBP, develop performance measures for CSI to enable the agency to assess accomplishments, make decisions, realign processes, and assign accountability. In response to our recommendation, CBP has taken steps to develop performance measures and issued them in August 2006 in its CSI 2006-2011 Strategic Plan. The plan includes measures linked to CSI goals.

In January 2002, the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection (CBP) rolled out a new program to address the threat that terrorists might use maritime cargo containers to ship weapons of mass destruction-- the Container Security Initiative (CSI). In July 2003, GAO recommended that the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, working with the Commissioner of CBP, develop a strategic plan for CSI. GAO noted that CBP had focused on short-term planning and had not taken adequate steps to incorporate key factors necessary for the program's long-term success and accountability. In response to our recommendation, CBP took steps to develop a strategic plan. CBP issued its initial strategic plan for CSI in February 2004, which addressed 3 of the 6 key elements as identified by the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) for an agency strategic plan. In August 2006, CBP issued a strategic plan for CSI that addressed all 6 elements: (1) mission statements, (2) general goals and objectives, (3) how the goals and objectives are to be achieved, (4) how performance goals and measures are related to the general goals and objectives, (5) external factors that could affect the achievement of general goals and objectives, and (6) program evaluations.