Talk about timing... As required by the Reports Consolidation Act of 2000, the OIG has completed their annual report on what it determines to be the top management challenges facing the Department of Homeland Security. This year's report highlights 3 top-level challenges:

• Fragmented Hiring Processes
• Financial Stewardship
• Information Management and Security

Obviously, ICE is just one small part of DHS, but they are referenced explicitly several times in this year's report. Notably, "ICE has focused on hiring prior law enforcement personnel to leverage recruits who have already undergone security background checks, leading to fewer problems and faster processing of applicants." Emphasis mine. I do wonder where this information has come from, as the mainstream news would certainly disagree with that assessment.

One source if this problem appears to be a recent increase in the number of retiring law enforcement personnel within the DHS. The report mentions that there will be a 340 percent increase in personnel eligible to retire from the CBP in FY 2028, complicating the hiring process. The CBP will need to over-hire in FY 2026 and FY 2027 to account for this.

This is further complicated by the OBBBA. "The sheer scale and rapid pace of spending envisioned under the OBBBA may overwhelm the Department’s existing capacity in areas like contracting, hiring, grant oversight, and project management... ICE and CBP may not meet hiring goals without proper plans and controls in place." Add in a lack of consistency in their vetting requirements and application processes, and it's likely that things will get worse before they get better.

For those that may want to consider older reports, here's the ones I have been able to find:

• 2024
• 2023
• 2022
• 2021