English: This GAO document reports on the results of a study to identify the functions and capabilities of CAP to support homeland security missions. This report addresses the extent to which CAP has been used to perform certain homeland security missions to date at the local, state, and federal levels, and the factors that should be considered in determining CAP’s ability to support additional homeland security missions and the extent to which DHS has assessed CAP’s capabilities and resources to accomplish such missions.

To determine the extent that CAP has been used to perform homeland security missions, CAP flight hours were scrutinized to determine the number and type of homeland security missions conducted by CAP based on the five homeland security missions outlined by DHS’s Quadrennial Homeland Security Review (QHSR). Specifically, the flight data from fiscal year 2011, as the most recent full year of flight data available at the time of our review, was used in the analysis. Additionally, CAP wing officials were interviewed regarding their participation in missions over the last few years to determine any trends in CAP’s participation in homeland security missions for federal, state, and local customers. To assess the reliability of these data, CAP officials were sought out to gain an understanding of the processes and databases used to collect and record flight data, as well as to understand existing quality control procedures and known limitations. For the purposes of this report, these data were found to be sufficiently reliable.

Also interviewed were officials from DHS and its components, CAP headquarters, 10 out of 52 CAP wings, and the U.S. Air Force. The 10 CAP wings were selected on the basis of their involvement in homeland security activities in the National Capital Region, along the border, and in disaster-prone areas. While these interviews are not generalizeable to all CAP wings across the country, they provided a range of perspectives related to CAP operations and homeland security missions. Finally, interviews were conducted with officials from the Department of Justice’s Drug Enforcement Administration to elicit CAP’s role in counter-drug operations as well as their views on CAP’s effectiveness during these missions.

To identify the appropriate factors that should be considered in determining CAP’s ability to support additional homeland security missions, and the extent to which DHS and its components have assessed the capabilities and resources of CAP to accomplish such missions, a review of pertinent laws, regulations, and internal CAP guidance was conducted to identify any restrictions on CAP’s activities, as well as selected mission paperwork and current and past agreements between CAP and other organizations to identify common parameters for CAP operations. In addition, interviews were conducted with CAP and Air Force officials regarding any specific mission approval criteria and funding requirements, and further analysis was conducted on flight data to determine any trends that might reflect on CAP’s capacity to assume additional missions.

Additional interviews with officials from relevant DHS components were conducted regarding their past experiences with CAP during homeland security-type operations, their overall assessment of CAP’s performance during these operations, and their willingness to continue to use CAP for these missions based on past experiences. These interviews also covered details required to identify any assessments DHS or its components have conducted related to CAP’s role in homeland security. Specifically, officials from DHS’s Office of Policy, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the Coast Guard were queried specifically on their experiences and relationships with CAP as well as their views on expanding CAP’s role in other homeland security missions.

Also interviewed were officials representing the Air Force and CAP and review relevant documentation to identify past or ongoing efforts to develop formal agreements between CAP and DHS related to future homeland security assistance. DHS’s efforts to assess CAP’s capabilities and resources are compared with past GAO work on effective collaboration and on conducting assessments to determine the extent to which DHS had assessed CAP as a potential homeland security partner.

GAO conducted this performance audit between March 2012 and November 2012 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. Those standards require GAO to plan and perform the audit in such a manner as to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for the eventual findings and conclusions based on the previously stated audit objectives. As such, GAO finds that the evidence obtained does in fact provide a reasonable basis for the stated findings and conclusions found in this report, and that they were based exclusively on the audit objectives provided.