Budget Overview
In fiscal year 2012, the budget of the Department of Homeland Security is according to the following data. The Department is allocated fifty-seven billion dollars in total funding, about forty-seven billion dollars in gross discretionary funding, and about forty-three billion in net discretionary funding (Department of Homeland Security, 2012). The gross discretionary funding is appropriated through requisite bills, while the net reflects spending that is adjusted in real time.
The Interagency Security Committee was allocated five million dollars. The Federal Acquisition Workforce Initiative was allocated eight hundred thousand dollars. The US-CERT Operations was allocated eight hundred million nine hundred dollars. The Cyber Mission Integration was allocated one million nine hundred thousand dollars. The Federal Network Protection was allocated two hundred thirty three million dollars. The Federal Network Security was allocated forty million dollars. The Federal Network Security Micro-Agency Support was allocated seven hundred thousand dollars. The National Initiative for Cyber Education was allocated fourteen million nine hundred thousand dollars. The Critical Infrastructure Cyber Protection & Awareness was allocated sixty one million dollars. Cybersecurity Business Support was allocated sixteen million three hundred thousand dollars. The Software Assurance and Supply Chain Risk Management was allocated nine million seven hundred thousand dollars. The Cybersecurity Coordination was allocated was allocated five million dollars. The Federal Protective Service was allocated one billion two hundred sixty one million five hundred thousand dollars (Department of Homeland Security, 2012).
The functional arm of the Transportation Security Administration, administered by the Committee on Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation which has been subsumed under the Department of Homeland Security was allocated over eight billion dollars, the U.S. Customs and border protection operates at a budget of eleven billion eight hundred million dollars. The Department “coordinated and delivered” its monies to the Office of Management and Budget to Congress on time, according to its fiscal report, and dealth with one thousand four hundred responses to questions from Congress and in Congressional hearings (Congressional Budget Justification 2012). FEMA and FEMA grants accounted for eighteen percent of the budget authority, while the TSA accounts for fourteen percent. The Department’s operations are under the Office of the Secretary and Executive Management along with the Chief Financial Officer and those subordinated to this position in fiscal matters. The U.S. Customs and Border Control are allocated the most percentage of the Department’s budget authority which make up twenty one percent. The least percentage of monies is the A&O - Homeland Security Information Network (HSIN), which is allocated about one percent of the budget authority (Department of Homeland Security, 2012).
Budgeting Assessment
The most politically charged branch of the Department of Homeland Security is without a doubt the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Since 2003 it has been placed under the Department of Homeland Security. Part of the reason for this is the question of how much of its budget authority is expressly allocated to further the Department of Homeland Security’s mission to thwart terrorist activity at home (Sobel, et. al, N.d.). Since the U.S. Customs authority is also frequently under scrutiny as per its actions against undocumented persons who enter the United States, the question, too, arises about how budgetary line items are allocated here in the name of national security. While of course, as concerns FEMA, the stability and diminishment of natural disasters is an indirect defense against terrorism, and while theoretically U.S. Customs is also tasked with attempting to identify would-be terrorists who may enter the country illegally, the amount of money allocated to these operations equals roughly twenty three percent of the total budgetary authority of the Department.
Analysis of Budgeting Plans and Actual Expenditures
The Department of Homeland Security is a vast organization, but it is also aided by intergovernmental agencies, agencies, and other entities within federal, state and local authorities. In the main, The Office for State and Local Law Enforcement acts as a liaison between state and federal agencies and is influential in the funnelling of money to address issues that arise (The Office for State and Local Law Enforcement). The most influential agency that influences operations of the Department of Homeland Security is the Central Intelligence Agency which the Department of Homeland Security is a member (Progress Report 2011).
Implications of Foreign Policy
In addition to the aforementioned national agencies, and partners, the Department of Homeland Security has also partnered with with international agencies, but these entities are harder to obtain names and to identity because of national security. Both the TSA and the DHS work together and partner with international airports, with foreign governments, including the following organizations: International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), World Customs Organization (WCO), and International Maritime Organization (IMO). Immigration Advisory Program (IAP) is allocated about fourteen million dollars to work with foreign governments on immigration issues (Highlights of Our Progress - Homeland Security. (n.d.). Forty seven million dollars is allocated to the National Targeting Center-Passenger (NTC-P) to intercept terrorist activity in foreign countries (Progress Report (2011). And the United States Secret Service works under a one billion nine hundred million dollar budget to secure the President in both domestic and international situations (Progress Report (2011).
Budget Request and Recommendations
How can the Department of Homeland Security shore up resources and and improve its budget? This is a daunting question. For example, the Department spent one hundred twenty five million seven hundred thousand dollars on canine units alone. The most robust way way the Department can reduce spending over five years is to continue to invest in its National Network of Fusion Centers, which has the sole intention of training local and state law enforcement agencies. Over the long term, this investment will lift the financial risk from the Department and spread it out over the state and local levels and reduce the opportunity costs associated with drug searches, dog rescue operations, and the like. Another prudent investment that will defray costs over a long period of time is the over three billion dollars the Department gives in grants to State and Local agencies (Progress Report (2011).
One way to save on spending is to allocate funding to State agencies, State Police, et cetera, to supplement the work of the TSA. The Secret Service spent sixty million dollars on protecting the President during the 2012 presidential campaign alone, which includes lodging, and other expenses. Would it be more prudent to have this money come out of the Office of the President? Also, The Office of Health Affairs could do more robust work if it amalgmated its activity with the Center for Disease Control. This would save the Department one hundred sixty one million dollars. Of the Department six mission objectives, which include everything from securing the border, to aiding citzens during natural disasters, to protecting the President, and securing the border, the mission it has to protect the economic security of hte nation, while noble, and needed, could be pared down and those functions transferred to the Federal Reserve Bank
References
Confidential Statements of Employment and Financial Interests. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.doi.gov/ocio/information_assurance/privacy/OGE_GOVT_2_Confidential.cfm
Congressional Budget Justification for the Department of Homeland Security (2012) Fiscal Year 2012. Retreived online June 21, 2014 http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/dhs-congressional-budget-justification-fy2012.pdf
Highlights of Our Progress - Homeland Security. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/opa/highlights-of-our-progress-implementing-9-11-commission-recommendations-progress-report-2011.pdf
The Office for State and Local Law Enforcement (N.d.) http://www.dhs.gov/office-state-and-local-law-enforcement-oslle
Progress Report (2011). Strengthening the Homeland Security Enterprisehttp://www.dhs.gov/strengthening-homeland-security-enterprise
Sobel, R., Coyne, C.m and Leeson, P. The Political Economy of FEMA: Did Reorganization Matter? Retrieved online June 20, 2014 http://www.peterleeson.com/Pol_Econ_of_FEMA_Reorg.pdf
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