As one of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs), the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center’s (HSOAC’s) ultimate goal is to add value for its sponsors and positively affect DHS mission outcomes by ensuring that policymakers have the best possible information to make important decisions about the challenges they are facing. We succeed only when our sponsors succeed—when they improve mission outcomes as decisions and policies are strengthened through targeted research and objective, evidence-based analysis. The following pages show the depth and breadth of the analytical work that HSOAC research staff produced in support of key DHS missions in fiscal year 2020.

As an FFRDC, we are a strategic asset for the department, a role that allows components to trust us with some of their most challenging problems and issue task orders without going through a formal acquisition process each time. Being an FFRDC means that we are permitted to be privy to the department’s inner workings, are charged with developing a deep familiarity and trusted relationships across DHS, and must operate in the public interest. We are tasked by the Federal Acquisition Regulation to use this familiarity with our sponsor’s  needs to maintain an expert workforce that can bring independent and objective research and analysis to inform data-driven decisionmaking across the department’s varied mission sets. We take this responsibility seriously, and we strive to continuously make improvements.

We have recruited and developed a strong cadre of research staff who have helped the department and its components mature its acquisition and requirements processes and artifacts, develop and refine its strategic plans, enhance workforce planning and resilience, identify and refine performance measures, respond to congressional mandates, and improve disaster recovery processes.

In this fourth annual update since the inception of the FFRDC, I am pleased to provide examples of how HSOAC uses cutting-edge analytical methods and tools to make tangible contributions to DHS mission outcomes across the entire breadth of the department. The projects we present here illustrate how HSOAC is helping the department safeguard the U.S. economy and borders, increase the United States’ ability to respond to and recover from natural disasters, enhance cybersecurity, and mature management and personnel processes.

I am proud of the work our researchers have done for the department, and I hope that you too will be impressed by their efforts to advance key DHS missions.