The US Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) repeatedly delayed and now estimated $3.1 billion Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology (HART) program continues to be plagued with privacy problems, according to audits and a new report.
Among these problems are serious “gaps” in the incorporation of key privacy measures that are required before HART can be deployed. They are so much of a problem that they’ve degraded the ability of HART to properly protect individuals’ Personally Identifiable Information (PII).
Because the HART initiative has been dogged by these and other problems from the start, the Fiscal Year 2025 DHS appropriations bill that was passed by the House on June 28, slashes funding for HART and financial systems management by $16.8 million below the FY 2024 enacted level, and provides no funds for additional procurement, construction, or improvements of HART.
That followed HART funding for FY 2023 having already been cut by about $17 million “due to ongoing cost, schedule, and performance challenges.” The program’s FY 2023 was just over $20 million, the same level as FY 2022.
