GAO Finds Glaring Security Gaps

Posted by William Neikirk at 3:50 p.m. CST

Public officials spend much of their time putting a positive spin on their achievements. That's natural. But with the sharp partisan divide in American politics, sorting through the rhetoric to determine how well your government is performing can lead to confusion.

Reading reports from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) often helps me cut through the political cacophony. The GAO, Congress' watchdog arm, gathers facts independently and lays them on the line. Often, the reports can be a little on the dull side, but beneath most all of them lies a deep current of truth: Your government needs to improve its performance, especially when it comes to the biggest issue of our time, security.

Earlier this week, GAO revealed that its undercover investigators managed to get radioactive material past U.S. radiation inspectors at the Canadian and Mexico borders. They used counterfeit bills of lading in the name of a fictitious company and counterfeit Nuclear Regulatory Commission documents authorizing them to receive, acquire, possess and transfer radioactive material. They talked their way past the border inspectors, who had determined they were carrying radioactive material, by making them believe they were legitimate. "Our investigators were able to enter the United States with enough radioactive sources to make two dirty bombs using counterfeit documents," their report said.

In another report, GAO found that the Department of Health and Human Services had yet to put an information security program fully into effect. The department, which relies heavily on computers to keep track of such programs as Medicare, Medicaid, Headstart, and financial assistance to low-income families, has made progress, but gaps still remain, the report said. Unauthorized disclosure and modification of sensitive information, or disruption of service, could result, the GAO said. A few days earlier, GAO issued yet another report citing weaknesses in information security across much of the U.S. government.

In addition, it said information security at the Internal Revenue Service, of all places, was in need of improvement. "GAO identified new information security control weaknesses that threaten the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of IRS's financial information systems and the information they posses," it said. That should give you some cause for concern when you file your taxes this year.

A few weeks ago, GAO said the Homeland Security Department needed more authority to strengthen security at chemical plants. And it has long been critical of security at the nation's port facilities.

These security weaknesses have developed under both Democratic and Republican regimes. The GAO reports show that government is endeavoring to correct the gaps, but nonetheless the gaps still exist. And that should be disquieting to Americans.

To top it off, the GAO issued a report Wednesday saying the Social Security Administration has been slow in taking steps to protect Social Security numbers and cards from unauthorized use and counterfeiting.

The anti-terrorism act of 2004 required enhancements to safeguard the card, with a target date of June 2006 of putting them into effect. But the GAO said the Social Security Administration waited until January to establish an inter-agency task force that would deal with the many complex issues involved in protecting numbers and cards.

Rep. James Sensenbrenner, the Wisconsin Republican who heads the House Judiciary Committee, accused the Social Security Administration of dragging its feet. He called on the attorney general, FBI director and the secretary of the Homeland Security Department to put the pressure on Social Security officials and press Social Security officials to "do a lot more than just issue another paper card that anyone can counterfeit on a good copy machine."