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Border Patrol Special Ops Group’s Spending, Effectiveness Uncertain

(REUTERS/Yuri Gripas)

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Ethan Barton Editor in Chief
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Customs and Border Protection’s Special Operations Group (SOG) doesn’t know how much money it spends or how effective it is at protecting America, according to a government watchdog.

The group, which was created to “to train, organize, equip, resource and deploy tactical and emergency response personnel worldwide to protect America,” doesn’t track it’s costs or formally measure its performance, according to a Department of Homeland Security inspector general (IG) report released Friday.

“The SOG program’s effectiveness and cost cannot be determined because CBP does not track total program costs and SOG has no formal performance measures,” the IG wrote.

Borer Protection “does not maintain complete records” for the Special Operations Group, and is missing documents regarding information such as personnel salaries and international mission costs, the report stated.

Consequently, the IG “was unable to calculate the total cost” of the group, according to the IG. The SOG’s known expenditures amounted to nearly $34 million in 2014.

The group also has no formal method of evaluating its performance.

“However, it maintains informal measures that, if formalized, could improve SOG’s assessment of its mission performance,” the report said.

“SOG program efficiency and effectiveness cannot be accurately determined without total program costs or formal performance measures,” the report continued. “As a result, CBP may be missing opportunities to improve effectiveness and identify potential cost savings in the SOG program.”

“Border Patrol is in the process of developing and implementing performance measures,” but its expected completion isn’t until July 29, 2016 the report said.

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