On the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 Commission report, the former commission members released a new analysis of U.S. homeland security that listed Congress as the greatest obstacle to homeland security.

Excessive congressional oversight hinders the ability of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to protect the American people. On Sunday, distinguished homeland security experts placed an ad in The New York Times highlighting the “overlapping and redundant oversight” that harms U.S. homeland security. Among them were former 9/11 Commission chair Thomas Kean and former DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff.

“Four [DHS] secretaries now, two Republicans and two Democrats, have all said to us the most important problem they have in fighting terrorism is the Congress,” said Kean last week.

There are currently 92 committees and subcommittees of Congress that hold jurisdiction over DHS. At the same time, only 36 committees oversee the Department of Defense—an organization with a budget 10 times that of DHS. Inefficient and duplicative oversight negatively impacts U.S. homeland security in three ways:

  1. It wastes critical DHS resources. In fiscal year 2013, DHS officials testified at 105 hearings and provided more than 1,650 briefings before congressional staff. The former 9/11 Commission members estimate the cost of such oversight in thousands of work hours and millions of taxpayer dollars. A streamlined oversight process is needed to keep DHS officials at work in their offices, not on Capitol Hill.
  2. It denies Congress a full understanding of DHS activities. One should not confuse quantity of overseers with quality of oversight. According to the 9/11 Commission members, “More than 90 different committees and subcommittees cannot develop expertise about the department as a whole. Nor can committees that only oversee certain DHS components understand the department’s overall mission or assess competing priorities.” Reducing the number of congressional oversight committees would enable Congress to oversee DHS more effectively.
  3. It results in a lack of sound strategic guidance for DHS. “When everyone is in charge, no one is,” 9/11 Commission member Jamie Gorelick said. Furthermore, Chertoff identified conflicting messages from Congress as the greatest problem with disorganized oversight. Without a clear understanding of the DHS’s overall mission, it is no wonder that Congress fails to lead DHS effectively.

The Heritage Foundation has joined the 9/11 Commission in proposing a drastic reorganization of DHS oversight. According to Heritage’s plan, congressional oversight would be reduced to just six committees—three in the Senate and three in the House.

In their new report, the former 9/11 Commission members declared that “congressional reform is the most important unfulfilled recommendation of the 9/11 Commission.” Congress should streamline the DHS oversight process and empower DHS to better protect the American people.

Andrew Tucker is currently a member of the Young Leaders Program at The Heritage Foundation. For more information on interning at Heritage, pleaseclick here.

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