More than four years after the process started, the DHS "lacks a comprehensive integration strategy with overall goals, a timeline, appropriate responsibility and accountability determinations, and a dedicated team to support its efforts," auditors from the Government Accountability Office said last week.

The GAO designated the merger of those 22 agencies and the stand-up of the department a so-called high-risk area in 2003. Now it says failure to fix the problem it found "could have serious consequences for our homeland security."

"Despite some progress," the auditors conclude, "this transformation remains high risk."

"Managing the transformation of an organization of the size and complexity of (Homeland Security) requires comprehensive planning and integration of key management functions that will likely span a number of years."

But the DHS's implementation of such changes is lagging. Its "financial management systems still do not conform to federal requirements," and it "has also not institutionalized an effective strategic framework for information management," the GAO report said.