WASHINGTON, July 9 About one-fourth of the top posts at the U.S. Homeland Security Department are empty, which could hamper emergency response efforts, The Washington Post said.
The vacancies were revealed in a congressional report and point to a "gaping hole" in U.S. readiness to respond to a terrorist attack, the Post reported Monday.
The report said that as of May 1 the Homeland Security Department had 138 vacancies among its top 575 leadership positions. The most vacancies were in the policy, legal and intelligence sections, the Post said.
A spokesman for the department said that the tally is skewed because of the expansion of management jobs last spring.
The findings sparked concerns in Congress about the department's struggles to overcome management problems. Authorities said they are worried the problems will increase after Bush leaves office, as many Homeland Security employees are then expected to step down, the Post reported.
Copyright 2007 by UPI
