Comments on: Senate approps bill chops nuclear detection budget http://www.hlswatch.com/2006/06/30/senate-approps-bill-chops-nuclear-detection-budget/ News and analysis of critical issues in homeland security today. Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:40:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: J. http://www.hlswatch.com/2006/06/30/senate-approps-bill-chops-nuclear-detection-budget/#comment-6637 J. Thu, 06 Jul 2006 17:14:25 +0000 http://www.hlswatch.com/2006/06/30/senate-approps-bill-chops-nuclear-detection-budget/#comment-6637 I have to say I\'m not surprised. History provides the precedent. During the early Cold War, RAND had good analyses that showed that millions of people would be saved if the nation invested in a national shelter program in the event of a Soviet nuclear attack. Congress yawned and funded it at a fraction of the few billion required. Many political decision makers felt that it would be more prudent to fund the intercepters and missile launchers - offensive functions - than shelters and supplies - defensive measures. Here we go again. I have to say I\’m not surprised. History provides the precedent. During the early Cold War, RAND had good analyses that showed that millions of people would be saved if the nation invested in a national shelter program in the event of a Soviet nuclear attack. Congress yawned and funded it at a fraction of the few billion required. Many political decision makers felt that it would be more prudent to fund the intercepters and missile launchers - offensive functions - than shelters and supplies - defensive measures.

Here we go again.

]]> By: Caroleen Williams http://www.hlswatch.com/2006/06/30/senate-approps-bill-chops-nuclear-detection-budget/#comment-6176 Caroleen Williams Mon, 03 Jul 2006 16:56:58 +0000 http://www.hlswatch.com/2006/06/30/senate-approps-bill-chops-nuclear-detection-budget/#comment-6176 Interesting analysis... Interesting analysis…

]]> By: Chris Bray http://www.hlswatch.com/2006/06/30/senate-approps-bill-chops-nuclear-detection-budget/#comment-6174 Chris Bray Mon, 03 Jul 2006 16:45:19 +0000 http://www.hlswatch.com/2006/06/30/senate-approps-bill-chops-nuclear-detection-budget/#comment-6174 $96 million is, what, a few hours of operations in Iraq? The sense of priorities is consistently astonishing. $96 million is, what, a few hours of operations in Iraq? The sense of priorities is consistently astonishing.

]]> By: William R. Cumming http://www.hlswatch.com/2006/06/30/senate-approps-bill-chops-nuclear-detection-budget/#comment-5791 William R. Cumming Fri, 30 Jun 2006 08:14:57 +0000 http://www.hlswatch.com/2006/06/30/senate-approps-bill-chops-nuclear-detection-budget/#comment-5791 We are going to have the first solid evidence this year that the failure to have new homeland security functional budget codes across the federal budget is going to really hurt homeland security. For example, the 050 account national defense used to have a civil defense portion. The 045 state and local assistance never really had any preparedness money in it even after the civil defense program was abolished. The 800 function - General Government should have long ago contained the money for COOP and COG! Neither the Executive Branch nor the Congress is serious yet about the Homeland Security function. After this years budget is adopted and excluding disaster outlays (which should not be excluded) almost 45% of the DHS budget will have nothing to do with Homeland Defense. But then probably 50% of the DOD budget does not relate to National Defense. The funding and operations of the USACE should probably be moved under DHS except for specific and directly related operations related to war fighting after certification that that they are directly related by the SECDEF. The rest is divided between civilian pork and structural mitigation of flood and natural disasters. Only time will tell which is which when we again discover mother nature does NOT grant variances to USACOE stupidity or anyone elses. The Administration continues to ignore mandatory statutory reporting to Congress on antiterrorism and counterterrorism mandated in the late 90\'s. Also the $10-15B wasted by DHS on destruction of legacy IT systems and failure to establish effective and efficient new ones is really beginning to hurt performance. The 5 year reviews post 9/11 on accomplishments for the homeland security/homeland defense programs, functions and activities is not going to be pretty. We are going to have the first solid evidence this year that the failure to have new homeland security functional budget codes across the federal budget is going to really hurt homeland security. For example, the 050 account national defense used to have a civil defense portion. The 045 state and local assistance never really had any preparedness money in it even after the civil defense program was abolished. The 800 function - General Government should have long ago contained the money for COOP and COG! Neither the Executive Branch nor the Congress is serious yet about the Homeland Security function. After this years budget is adopted and excluding disaster outlays (which should not be excluded) almost 45% of the DHS budget will have nothing to do with Homeland Defense. But then probably 50% of the DOD budget does not relate to National Defense. The funding and operations of the USACE should probably be moved under DHS except for specific and directly related operations related to war fighting after certification that that they are directly related by the SECDEF. The rest is divided between civilian pork and structural mitigation of flood and natural disasters. Only time will tell which is which when we again discover mother nature does NOT grant variances to USACOE stupidity or anyone elses. The Administration continues to ignore mandatory statutory reporting to Congress on antiterrorism and counterterrorism mandated in the late 90\’s. Also the $10-15B wasted by DHS on destruction of legacy IT systems and failure to establish effective and efficient new ones is really beginning to hurt performance. The 5 year reviews post 9/11 on accomplishments for the homeland security/homeland defense programs, functions and activities is not going to be pretty.

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