Homeland Security IG announces 2006 tech audits

The Homeland Security Department's inspector general expects to carry out more than a dozen evaluations of IT operations at the agency in 2006, according to a new performance plan for the year.

The audits for 2006 also include many checks and evaluations of numerous Hurricane Katrina-related DHS operations in which the inspector general has found faults in the past. Information security at the Secret Service and at the Federal Emergency Management Agency is among the IT programs under continuing review.

Other IT-related programs to undergo audits this year include the Transportation Workers Identification Credentialing, which provides ID cards for transportation workers; Integrated Deepwater System for border and maritime defense missions of the Coast Guard; and coordination of intelligence support for border security.

The inspector general also intends to review datamining IT and use of radio frequency identification technology at DHS. The purpose of the radio frequency audit is to "determine whether DHS has effectively managed the implementation of RFID technology to protect its mission critical data from unauthorized access," the performance plan states.

The inspector general also will audit use of automated surveillance technologies at the border, and more broadly to include such things as "relationship awareness" surveillance technologies.