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civil liberties. Moreover, the Department should review its law enforcement and investigative
programs to ensure that current policies and procedures are consistent with the Constitution,
and do not contribute to abuses of authority that may threaten the American people’s rights. For
example, Congress and DHS should reform the allowable uses of its grant programs, including
the equipment that it allows its grant recipients to purchase using federal funds through the
preparedness grant programs (if the grants are continued) to ensure that federal funds do not
contribute to excessive use of force by state and local law enforcement authorities. 729
One way that the Department can earn the American people’s trust is by improving
transparency about its programs and operations. This can be done by being a more transparent
partner with Congress—providing information in response to Congressional inquiries in a
thorough and timely manner—to allow Congress to ask questions and verify that DHS’s
programs are not trespassing on Constitutional rights or privacy. DHS could also implement
policies and procedures to create transparency and accountability for its employees involved in
law enforcement and security operations. For example, DHS officers involved with law
enforcement operations, such as Border Patrol, ICE, CBP and others, could be required to use
body cameras to demonstrate that employees are operating in a manner consistent with
Departmental policy.
Vigorous and sustained independent oversight of the Department’s activities is also
critical. Congress and other watchdogs, such as the Inspector General, must do their part to
continue to hold the Department accountable for adhering to the Constitution and not
threatening to trespass on the American people’s rights. Where concerns over the Department’s
activities may be misplaced, rigorous oversight is also a helpful way to alleviate these concerns
by presenting facts to the American public. For example, some members of the American public
have had questions about DHS’s acquisitions of ammunition over the past few years. Senator
Coburn and other watchdogs conducted oversight to determine whether DHS’s level of
ammunition acquisitions was appropriate, presenting evidence of their findings to the American
people. For example, Senator Coburn published on his website the information that DHS
provided about its ammunitions purchases in response to a November 13, 2012 letter, after many
729 Senator Coburn introduced legislation (S. 2904, the Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act) in the 113 th
Congress. It includes legislative changes to reform DHS’s grant programs.
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