NCJ Number
198520
Date Published
June 2002
Length
15 pages
Annotation
Testimony by Janet Heinrich of the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) before the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the Committee on Energy and Commerce focuses on issues pertinent to the proposed transfer of specific public health preparedness and response programs currently housed in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) into the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Abstract
The testimony is based largely on the U.S. General Accounting Office's (GAO's) previous and ongoing work on Federal, State, and local preparedness in responding to bioterrorist threats, as well as a review of the proposed legislation. According to the testimony, the GAO believes that the proposed reorganization under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has the potential to remedy the fragmentation it has found in the coordination of public health preparedness and response programs at the Federal, State, and local levels. As previously recommended by the GAO, the proposal would institutionalize the responsibility for homeland security in Federal statute. The GAO, however, has concerns about the proposed transfer of control from Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to the new DHS for public health assistance programs that have both basic public health and homeland security functions. These dual-purpose programs have important synergies that the GAO believes should be maintained. The GAO is concerned that transferring control over these programs, including the setting of priorities for them, to the new DHS has the potential to disrupt some programs that are critical to basic public health responsibilities. The testimony advises that the President's proposal for the new DHS is not sufficiently clear about how both the homeland security and public health objectives would be accomplished. A list of related GAO products