Homeland Security Watch

The FY 2007 budget request for the Department of Homeland Security includes a new account this year: Analysis and Operations. It combines the intelligence analysis part of the former IAIP directorate with the Directorate of Operations, which runs the Homeland Security Operations Center (HSOC). The budget request explains the rationale for combining these two entities from a budget perspective in the DHS appendix:

The Analysis and Operations account provides the resources to improve the analysis and sharing of threat information. This account supports the activities of the Directorate of Operations which houses the Office of Intelligence and Analysis and the Office of Operations Coordination. Even though these two offices are different and distinct in their missions, they work together to improve intelligence and information sharing. In 2005, as a part of its Second Stage Review, DHS transferred the Homeland Security Operations Center and intelligence activities of the Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection (IAIP) Directorate to Analysis and Operations. Funding for legacy intelligence and monitoring activities are now funded in this account.

This consolidation makes a lot of sense, and hopefully will help to strengthen DHS’s intelligence capabilities and its ability to reach its key intelligence “customers”: state and local law enforcement and private sector owners of critical infrastructure.

The budget request proposes an 18.2% increase ($252m to $298m) from FY 2006 baseline spending for Analysis and Operations and 70 new FTEs (405 to 475): a clear sign that DHS Chief Intelligence Officer Charlie Allen is starting to get the resources that he asked Sec. Chertoff and Dep. Sec. Jackson for late last year.