Too Many Chiefs, Not Enough Leadership in Homeland Security Oversight

Jena McNeill / July 23, 2010

NPR put out a story this week on congressional oversight of homeland security. Currently, 108 Committees and Subcommittees have oversight over the Department of Homeland Security. The story includes a diagram of this oversight that should make heads spin.

For some, this might seem like cute clip-art, but this is actually a nightmare for policy implementation at DHS. The oversight is a huge workload for the Department—and it also leads to conflicting messages from Congress. For example, one committee says X, another subcommittee says Y, and neither Committee nor Subcommittee has anything to do with homeland security. What’s a Department to do? (more…)