The Homeland Security & Defense Business Council (HSDBC) and Grant Thornton Public Sector LLC today released the final 20/20 Project on the State of the Homeland Security Enterprise Report. Part of a five-year initiative centered on key priorities, challenges, and opportunities for government and industry across the Homeland Security Enterprise (HSE), the 2020 report focuses on anticipating and addressing the challenges facing the HSE in the coming decade.
“HSDBC was honored to have served as a facilitator for these important discussions between government and industry over the five years of the 20/20 Project,” said Krista Sweet, director of policy at HSDBC. “As we face new and evolving threats in the coming decade, the final report recognizes the need for the enterprise to develop a diverse workforce that can think and plan for the unknown; flexible and agile business processes to support management and operations; and technologies that strengthen security and resilience while improving efficiencies and the speed of decision making.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic and the unparalleled challenges it has created for the enterprise and nation at large truly bring to light the issues explored in the 2020 report,” said Vern Butler, homeland security, defense, and intel account managing partner at Grant Thornton Public Sector LLC. “The report’s recommendations around the need for a coordinated homeland security strategy, enhanced professional development programs for the HSE workforce, and on-going assessments of mission challenges through government-industry-academic collaboration are more important and timelier than ever before.”
The 2020 report, which offers a strategic look at the threats confronting the HSE in a rapidly changing environment, marks a shift from the Project’s previous four reports that assessed the current state of the enterprise. It examines the needs and challenges of the enterprise across three core areas – people, process, and technology – and the capabilities needed within each to prepare for and respond to an evolving threat landscape.
Through the analysis of insights gathered from hundreds of government, industry, and academic experts in homeland security, the 2020 report recommends the HSE:
- Strengthen mechanisms to establish and implement a national-level unifying vision for coordinated homeland security policy, strategy, planning, and operations
- Provide a venue for assessing future homeland security mission challenges and related people, process, and technology capabilities that brings together the expertise and perspectives from across the enterprise
- Enhance homeland security professional development through existing and new programs to promote mobility and sharing of expertise across agencies and sectors, and
- Increase the speed of business processes and informed decision-making through business process innovation groups.
The report was based on a series of facilitated focus groups and an online survey conducted by HSDBC and Grant Thornton Public Sector LLC throughout the summer and fall of 2019. Participants included current and former senior officials from the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, Department of Health and Human Services, and other federal agencies; industry executives and private sector leaders; and academic experts.