Obama hands DHS $43 billion
President Barack Obama's proposed 2010 budget, submitted to Congress allocates $42.7 billion to the DHS in discretionary spending for 2010, a 6 percent increase over 2009
Security Management's Matthew Harwood writes that cybersecurity features prominently in both budgetary areas (note that the details of the intelligence budget are classified), with the document noting, ""The threat to Federal information technology networks is real, serious, and growing."
According to the homeland security portion of the document, $355 million will go to help the private and public sectors create more resilient cyberinfrastructures, while $36 million will aid research and development into technologies to help prevent and detect biological threats.
The administration will not disclose how much money the intelligence program is allocated, it states its cybersecurity efforts will revolve around addressing present threats and anticipating future threats, all the while fostering more public-private partnerships to keep information networks secure.
The president's budget for homeland security is more accessible. The government will spend $50 million to provide 15 new Visual Intermodal Protection Response Teams at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for unannounced visits at transportation hubs across the country. The budget will also provide $65 million to modernize how the government screens travelers and workers. More money will add 55 specialized bomb officers trained to recognize explosives and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The administration says it will offset the cost of these new spending projects by increasing airline passenger security fees starting in 2012.
