Homeland Security's Use of Contractors Is Questioned
Source: By Spencer S. Hsu, Washington Post, Wednesday, October 17, 2007
At the Department of Homeland Security, contract employees help write job descriptions for new headquarters workers. Private contractors also sign letters that officially offer employment. And they meet new government hires on their first day on the job. About the only thing they do not do, a critical new congressional audit concludes, is swear in DHS employees.
....... Independent analysts have increasingly warned in recent years that the government's growing reliance on private firms threatens to undermine agencies' decision-making, a risk the audit found was heightened in DHS's case by its complex 2003 start-up and the rapid expansion of its workload.