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Lingering senior-level job vacancies at Homeland Security Department agencies including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Transportation Security Administration and two bureaus involved in border control are worrisome, lawmakers told witnesses at a hearing Thursday.

"Recruitment is probably our highest priority right now," K. Gregg Prillaman, DHS' chief human capital officer, told members of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Management, Integration and Oversight.

But FEMA has failed to fill senior-level jobs, according to a memorandum the subcommittee released late Thursday. Subcommittee member Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., whose district was hit by Hurricane Katrina, said with just two weeks left before this year's storm season begins, the agency must beef up its ranks.

"When I see only 73 percent of FEMA employees on board, I'm concerned," he said.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and TSA also are listed in the memo as still having senior-level vacancies.

"We have a very real problem in DHS with retention, recruitment and morale," said subcommittee chairman Mike Rogers, R.-Ala. "The number of vacancies is a growing problem."

At the hearing, lawmakers also raised concerns about DHS' ability to conduct thorough security checks of individual contractors. Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-N.J., said Shirlington Limousines, with which the department signed deals only to see the contractor become engulfed in the "Duke" Cunningham scandal, was run by a man "with a 62-page rap sheet" and multiple convictions. Pascrell and other subcommittee members expressed concern about the department's lack of knowledge about this.

The department had conducted background checks of the company's drivers, said Dwight Williams, director of DHS' Office of Security.

This is the second time in recent weeks DHS officials have been grilled by legislators; Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, told DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff in a memo sent in late April that the department must announce how many jobs FEMA still has open. Davis' staff is still processing the results of that request.

DHS officials maintained that the situation will improve.

"My sense is DHS will be better during the next three years than it was in the last three years," Prillaman said.

COMMENTS

• At TSA, a big part of the problem is young kids, fresh out of college or after doing their 2 years of abuse with the beltway contractors, being put into senior policy and decision making roles without a chance of getting certified for SES by OPM. So the slots remain unfilled. Related story - why do you think senior people levae TSA in droves? Career SES Posted August 1, 2007 8:29 PM
• DHS refuses to recognize paybanding that the Defense Department is in, and is not compensating promotions with a 2-step increase as afforded to GS employees, which is in violation of public law (5 CFR 531.217). They will not attract talented employees/managers this way. Also, how does DHS expect to hire folks when it takes over 90 days to process in? I am with the Department of Army with a Top Secret clearance, and I still needed to go through the same process. Why can't they use the clearance already established? I think this is a waste of time and resources to go through the same process. I thought we were one government body working together -- I guess not. Ed Posted May 26, 2006 8:09 AM
• It should be interesting to see if the agency meets the date. Most of the positions are not only temporary, but they offer no relocation, especially at the GS-14/15 levels. It doesn't appear to be a very good recruitment strategy. GovExec.com reader Posted May 25, 2006 9:26 AM