House DHS Leadership Vacancy Report Finds Homeland Security at Risk

July 9, 2007 -- Today, Congressman Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, identified in a staff report that nearly one quarter of the senior leadership positions located in the Department of Homeland Security are vacant. The overall senior leadership vacancies, termed “executive resources,” total 24%, and refer to positions in the highest salary bands (including political appointments) of the Federal government. The majority staff report is available online at http://homeland.house.gov/SiteDocuments/20070709112923-81091.pdf.

In addition to the critical leadership vacancies, the report finds that an unusually high number of critical national security jobs at the Department of Homeland Security are filled by political appointees. This identifies an enormous security vulnerability should an attack or disaster occur during the upcoming presidential transition.

As of May 1, 2007 there were 575 “executive resource” positions at DHS. 138 of these were vacant (24%). These vacancies can be found throughout the Department in a number of critical components and administrative functions. Among the numbers cited, there were 31% leadership vacancies at FEMA (24 of 77 vacant).