Center Releases Homeland Security Budget Primer
Contact: Kate Käufer - 202.546.0795 ×122 Erik Floden - 202.546.0795 ×110
Center Releases Homeland Security Budget Primer
As Congress Begins Debate on 2004 Budget
Today, the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation released a concise homeland security budget primer that details federal spending on homeland security from fiscal years 2002 to 2004. The primer dissects government-wide homeland security spending by agency and department, and breaks down the budget of the Department of Homeland Security in detail.
Tracking the homeland security budget since September 11, 2001 is key to understanding the administration’s priorities in preventing terrorist attacks. For example, the fiscal year 2004 budget request for the Department’s Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection Directorate is $829 million, an increase of $652 million, or 368%, over the $177 million its programs received in fiscal year 2003. Funding increases in this area can be traced back to the failure of the federal government to synthesize the information available to the federal officials prior to the September 11 attacks.
The budget figures reveal that despite the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, the federal government’s homeland security efforts are still quite decentralized. For example, since there are thirty other federal agencies that receive funding for homeland security, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge commands only slightly over half of the entire federal budget for homeland security.
Homeland Security Budget Highlights include:
- The fiscal year (FY) 2004 $41.347 billion homeland security budget request is a $3.2 billion increase over $38.1 billion in FY 2003 homeland security spending, excluding $3.91 billion allocated to the Department of Homeland Security in a FY 2003 Supplemental. In FY 2002, homeland security spending totaled $32.8 billion. Administration projections suggest that in the next five years, homeland security funding increases will be modest.
- Of the $41.347 billion FY 2004 budget request for homeland security, $23.89 billion, or 57.78%, is for the Department of Homeland Security’s homeland security programs. The Department of Defense would receive the second largest portion of FY 2004 federal homeland security funds, $6.714 billion. Remaining funds are spread across 30 other federal departments.
- In FY 2004, one-third of the Department of Homeland Security’s $36.178 billion budget request, or $12.246 billion, is designated for non-homeland security missions. Therefore, the DHS budget request for homeland security activities is $23.89 billion, a $1.855 billion increase from the $22.035 billion the DHS is spending on homeland security activities in FY 2003.