DHS Launches New Office of Homeland Security Statistics
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is centralizing its data capabilities, launching a new office to collect, analyze, and report on statistics Department-wide.
The Office of Homeland Security Statistics (OHSS) will replace and expand on the Office of Immigration Statistics, which will be folded into the new office. DHS Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas says it will improve transparency.
“Data-driven decision-making is an integral part of everything we do, and this new office will inform our policymaking, enhance our law enforcement and investigative operations, and allow us to distribute resources, including grants, more effectively. Our increased transparency will inform the American people as we work to fulfill our security and safety mission while safeguarding privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties,” said Secretary Mayorkas in a statement.
OHSS also brings DHS in line with the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (Evidence Act), which requires agencies to rely on data to support their policymaking and to make data more prominent in their agency.
Data from Across the Department
While immigration data is a major component of the office, the new office will collect and analyze data from more than a dozen DHS component agencies and offices. Staff will validate and publish data on a pre-determined schedule to give public access to “quality data in a timely and consistent manner.” Those reports are scheduled to come out every few weeks or months, instead of years.
“This is a big step forward for an office that until recently published data annually, a few years late, so we’re really upping our game,” OHSS Executive Director Marc Rosenblum told Federal News Network.
The first sets of data will be released in the coming weeks. Upcoming reports include data on counterfeit goods seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and data on use-of-force incidents recorded by DHS law enforcement agencies. In the future, there will be releases on cybersecurity, international trade, airport screening, emergency response to federal disasters, and maritime response operations.
OHSS also has a new website, which includes a tool to explore data by region.
Immigration Still a Focus
Immigration data will still make up a big chunk of the office’s work as the office includes the Congressionally mandated Migration Analysis Center (MAC), to support evidence-based policy making on migration.
So far, 23 out of 25 data sets the new office has received are related to immigration.
As for how data will be collected and standardized, Rosenblum said OHSS will work with the DHS chief data officer to set enterprise data standards to ensure that data is accurate, independent, and trustworthy.