DHS FY09 Budget Request Reflects 7.6% Increase, Focus on Technology
President Bush’s FY 2009 federal budget is the largest in history at $3 trillion. The government-wide homeland security portion of that represents a 10.7% plus-up compared to 2008. Within DHS, spending will increase by 7.6 percent from FY08.
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Customs and Border Protection is the biggest slice with $9.5 billion in discretionary spending. The largest account by far is SBInet. With $775 million of the pie, SBInet is a technology investment intended to create a net-centric border security capability. Indeed, the budget request for SBInet only includes 15 full time staff equivalents. The second largest ticket for CBP actually is people. $442 million is requested for staffing up the army of Border Patrol agents.
The Coast Guard claims $7.8 billion in discretionary spending for FY09. About $1.1 billion of this is for fleet modernization under the Integrated Deepwater Systems program. $44 million is dedicated to Maritime Domain Awareness support through such programs as Nationwide Automatic Identification System, Maritime Awareness Global Network (MAGNet) 2.0, and Command 21.
With a budget request of just above $7 billion, TSA comes in at a hardy third. Another Administration document explains that almost $6 billion will go toward aviation security systems, but this also includes a four-year surcharge in the passenger security fee of $0.50 “per enplanement†with the potential to increase to $1.00 per one-way trip. The budget anticipates $426 million to be collected and deposited in an “Aviation Security Capital Fund.†As part of the remainder, Behavioral Detection Officers, the Aviation Direct Access Screening Program, and Visible Intermodal Protection and Response (VIPR) and Canine Explosive Detection (K-9) teams comprise $125 million in new dollars.
For more on the budget breakdown among DHS component agencies, see the Administration’s Budget in Brief, from which the table below is drawn.
