Homeland Security Spent $20 Million on Conferences Last Fiscal Year

The Department of Homeland Security ran up more than $20 million in conference-related expenses in 2014, according to a recently released government audit. The Office of Inspector General report, which looked at conferences either hosted or attended by the department or its employees from October 1, 2013, to December 31, 2014, found that the the department—which handles issues related to terrorism, border security, and cybersecurity—was involved with a total of 1,883 conferences in fiscal year 2014 that amounted to $20.3 million in expenses.  In total last year, the department hosted 490 conferences that cost $13.14 million and attended an additional 1,393 conferences at an expense of $7.16 million. However, the department did not report all conferences required by the inspector general, giving information for only a fraction of its conference-related costs...more