Karen Evans is returning to the headquarters office at the Department of Homeland Security. The former DHS chief information officer will now lead the department’s waste, fraud and abuse task force. Brian Cavanaugh, the DHS undersecretary for management, announced Evans’ return to the department yesterday as part of the email to staff announcing changes in the agency’s CIO’s office. “Karen’s extensive background in federal IT and cybersecurity leadership, along with her deep experience in public service, makes her well suited to lead this important effort,” Cavanaugh wrote in an email to staff, which Federal News Network obtained. “As director, Karen will lead the department’s support for Executive Order 14395, ‘Establishing the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud,’ a governmentwide priority chaired by the Vice President. In this role, she will coordinate DHS efforts to eliminate waste, safeguard taxpayer funds and ensure the department remains a responsible steward of public resources.” Karen Evans is the new director of the DHS task force on waste, fraud and abuse. Evans returned to DHS starting in January 2025, having worked at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Federal Emergency Management Agency over the last 18 months in assorted senior roles. The White House nominated her to be the undersecretary of Homeland Security for Management, but withdrew her nomination in July 2025. She also served as the senior official performing the duties of administrator at FEMA from December 2025 to May 2026. The Trump administration has made ferreting out waste, fraud and abuse a major initiative under the President’s Management Agenda. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March creating a new fraud task force. The Government Accountability Office said in April that in fiscal 2025 15 agencies reported a total estimate of about $186 billion in improper payments across 64 programs, an