DHS budgetProposed budget shows DHS will have to do with less
The administration’s proposed 2013 budget shows that DHS will have to do with less: the department $39 billion is $625 million less than the department’s2012 budget, and, in addition, the department has committed to save an additional $1.3 billion by reducing administrative costs. Among the big-ticket items in the new budget: $714 million for a state-of-the-art animal disease lab; $494 million to fund research and development in cybersecurity, explosives detection, and chemical/biological response systems; and $221 million for 1,600 additional Border Patrol agents.
The White House budget just submitted to Congress has allocated $39 billion to DHS. This is $625 million less than the department’s2012 budget.
UPI reports that DHS will save an additional $1.3 billion by reducing administrative costs such as contracts, information technology, travel, personnel moves, overtime, directed purchasing, professional services, and vehicle management.
DHS secretary Janet Napolitano says the department is stronger than ever.
“After 10 years of effort, DHS has transformed 22 agencies from across the Federal Government into a single integrated Department, building a strengthened homeland security enterprise and a more secure America better equipped to confront the range of threats we face,” Napolitano wrote on the DHS’ Web site. “The Department’s FY 2014 budget request preserves core frontline priorities while making critical investments to grow the economy and secure the homeland.”
The budget document shows that DHS intends to:
- Provide $221 million for 1,600 new Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers and equipment for faster processing and inspection of passengers and cargo at ports of entry.
- Invest $714 million in a state-of-the-art lab to develop countermeasures for diseases originating in large animals and which can be transmitted to humans.
- Give $44 million in new funding to support expansion of the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative Five to develop a comprehensive, coordinated system that fosters information-sharing across government agencies while protecting privacy and civil liberties.
- Eliminate duplicative, stand-alone Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant programs, consolidating them into a new grant program.
- Focuses immigration detention resources on priority aliens such as criminals, repeat immigration law violators, recent border entrants, and immigration fugitives, and expanding resources for electronic monitoring and supervision.
- Provide $114 million for support and expansion of the e-Verify system.
- Provide $494 million to fund research and development in cybersecurity, explosives detection, and chemical/biological response systems.
