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The Tech Piece Of The Spending Pie
Although many high-tech trade associations are not closely monitoring the roughly $29 million emergency spending package currently before Congress, the legislation contains various technology-related measures.
Congress remains generally supportive of the need for funding homeland security and the fight against terrorism, though some lawmakers have begun to question how the money is being spent.
Following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Congress approved $40 billion in emergency spending for the war on terrorism and to quickly address homeland defense gaps, paid in three installments over several months. The Bush administration came back to Congress in recent weeks with a request for another $27 billion in fiscal 2002. In addition, President Bush has requested an increase of $38 billion in homeland defense spending for fiscal 2003.
House Committee Makes Its Mark
The House Appropriations Committee will continue work this week on the fiscal 2002 measure, with the hope of getting it to floor quickly. The panel thus far has added $2.3 billion to the White House request, bringing the total to nearly $29.4 billion. The bill would boost the amount for homeland security to $5.8 billion, $522 million more than the president's request, and increase the defense supplemental from the requested $14 billion to $15.77 billion.
The committee would cut the request for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) by $550 million, to $3.85 billion. A Transportation Department spokeswoman defended the agency as new and sorely understaffed. But the committee criticized the new agency for failing to justify its budget request fully or in a timely way.
"The administration should not expect the committee to recommend large expenditures of public funds without proper justification -- even for critical activities," the committee report said.
TSA is the result of the decision to federalize security at 429 commercial airports, which will result in 68,000 new federal employees, such as baggage and passenger screeners and new technology to check baggage for explosives by year's end.
At last Thursday's meeting on the bill, the committee struck $150 million from the TSA budget. Some remaining initiatives include: $850 million for installing explosive-detection systems at commercial airports, $630 million to purchase the detection systems and $75 million for grants to ports authorities for security enhancements at commercial ports.
The Energy Department would receive funding boosts to improve physical and cyber security. The department's Office of Science would receive $29 million, and another $7 million would go toward "critical energy security and assurance activities," including $4.2 million for vulnerability assessments of critical energy infrastructure.
The supplemental also would provide funds for election reform, including new technologies to reduce vote-counting errors like those that marred the 2000 presidential election. The committee thus far has cut the proposal from $650 million to $450 million.
The committee also cut an administration request of $19.3 million for a National Science Foundation (NSF) program of cyber scholarships, citing a lack of implementation by NSF.
Agencies Would Get Security-Fund Boost
At the Justice Department, $10 million would go toward a task force to track foreign terrorists and another $7.5 million for its collaborative activities. The initiatives seek to enable the FBI to work with state, local and other federal agencies and include building safeguards into the FBI's networks so it can communicate electronically with other law enforcement entities without compromising its network security, the committee said.
The FBI also would receive $18.4 million to safeguard its systems and information, and $8 million for the Trilogy program to expand information-processing capabilities. It also would get $44.1 million for investigative data warehousing and data-mining tools, and another $8 million for digital storage and retrieval of documents related to the Sept. 11 terrorism investigation. An additional $13.9 million seeks to ensure integration and continuity of the various programs.
Of an additional $44.7 million to expand the FBI's overseas legal attaché program, $21 million would go toward infrastructure upgrades at attaché offices in areas at high risk of terrorism.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) would receive $75 million for enforcement and border affairs, including a $40 million contingent appropriation. Of that, $49 million would address the shortfall in fees for air and seaport immigration inspection, a one-time appropriation that is for information technology enhancements. Another $1 million would go toward the INS' development of an entry-exit program at the borders, bringing the fiscal 2002 total for that program to $14.3 million.
On Thursday, the committee voted to transfer to Justice $175 million for grants to "first responders" to emergencies (such as fire and police forces). The money had been earmarked for the White House Office of Homeland Security.
Under the Federal Highway Administration, $19.3 million would be provided for a new border-enforcement program of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The funding would include $10 million for projects to detect and prevent fraud in issuing driver's licenses.
The committee also criticized the Defense Department after requests for clarifications on its proposal "were not provided in a timely manner and when provided were not adequate," the panel's report said. Nevertheless, members voted to boost the administration's defense request to address "urgent requirements necessary to the war-fighting efforts and homeland defense." The additional activities are largely unrelated to technology, however.
The committee is proposing $102 million for several unmanned aerial vehicles, including the Global Hawk and Predator, which is $23 million less than requested. It also is proposing $189 million for research and development, testing and evaluation of systems for the detection of chemical and biological agents. The administration request was $162.7 million. The funds would cover software development and a monitoring system.
Anti-Terrorism Training A Focus
In other proposals, $1.1 million would be given to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative for increased security costs. And the National Institute of Standards and Technology would receive $4 million for security measures and $3 million for the investigation of the technical causes of the collapse of the World Trade Center towers.
Under the General Services Administration, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center would be granted the authority to hire retired federal employees for up to five years for "urgent" training in homeland security requirements, according to the committee report. Another provision would rescind $14 million in un-obligated funds at the Financial Management Service but states that the service could use any leftover funds could be used for "computer security improvements."
Appropriators are hurrying to finish work on the supplemental before the time to debate the fiscal 2003 request. Many of the areas addressed in the supplemental would be addressed again in next year's budget.
According to the Government Electronics and Information Technology Association, appropriations by activity in the president's fiscal 2003 request would include $6.8 billion for homeland security, $3.5 billion to support first responders, $5.9 billion for bioterrorism, $10.6 billion for border security, $722 million for state-of-the-art technologies, $4.8 billion for aviation security, and $5.4 billion for other non-defense spending.
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