Homeland Security still facing management challenges

Although the Homeland Security Department has made significant progress in addressing management challenges this year, some improvements will take years to implement, the department's inspector general wrote in a report released Wednesday.

While the department has been consolidating its financial management, contracting and human resources operations, those functions still "are not under central control," and contracts management and information technology present "formidable challenges," according to the report.

Although grant programs to first responders have been consolidated, a better management system is needed, the inspector general said, adding that an integrated financial system is "years away," finalizing human resource regulations will be "challenging," and protecting U.S. borders poses immense challenges that "will take years" to solve.

House Homeland Security Committee ranking member Jim Turner, D-Texas, cited the report as evidence that "this administration is not doing all it can to keep America as safe as it needs to be."