In the United States, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) this month proposed a fiscal year (FY) 2016 budget of $41.2 billion. The DHS points to what it calls its five primary missions: prevent terrorism and enhance security, secure and manage borders, enforce and administer immigration laws; safeguard and secure cyberspace, and strengthen national preparedness and resilience.
“The President’s FY 2016 Budget provides the resources necessary for the Department of Homeland Security to further strengthen our efforts to fulfill our wide-ranging missions, while also being agile and vigilant in the face of ever-evolving threats and recent world events,” said Secretary Johnson. “But prior to acting on the FY 2016 Budget, I urge Congress to fully fund DHS for the rest of this fiscal year, as the current continuing resolution is disruptive, creates uncertainty, and impedes efficient resource planning and execution.”
Set up after the 9-11 attacks, the federal department has long been criticised in the US as simply too big and unwieldy. For example the budget proposes $9.6 billion to support disaster resiliency, primarily through the grants administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which was notoriously slow and poor in response to the New Orleans flooding after Hurricane Katrina. The DHS speaks of a ‘challenge to improve DHS Unity of Effort’. And $3.7 billion goes on the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screening operations in aviation security and passenger screening ‘based on risk’.
The DHS says that it has prioritised investments in technology and risk-based, intelligence-driven programs like TSA Pre✓ and Global Entry, in transport security.
