- Federal homeland security R&D would total $4.4 billion in FY 2006,
a gain of $208 million or 4.9 percent that represents a leveling off
of the federal investment after dramatic recent increases (see Table).
- The majority
of the portfolio would remain outside the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS), with the largest part of funding coming from the
National Institutes of Health (NIH) for its biodefense
research portfolio. NIH’s portfolio, mostly
in the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID),
would total $1.8 billion in FY 2006, up 0.4 percent.
- Total homeland security funding would rise $4
billion or 8.5 percent to $50 billion next year, somewhat off the
pace of recent years but a notable increase in a budget that proposes
flat or declining funding for other federal government missions.
Figure 1. (click
on the image for PDF)
The Bush Administration has requested $4.4 billion for homeland security-related
R&D in the FY 2006 budget, a boost of 4.9 percent or $208 million
from the FY 2005 funding level (see Table).
As shown in Figure 2, homeland security R&D is funded by nearly
a dozen different federal departments, but the majority of funds would
remain outside the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In fact, nearly
half of all federal R&D funding for homeland security would come
from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS; $1.8 billion
in FY 2006; see Figure 2).
Despite the creation
of DHS, homeland security R&D is an interagency effort that is still
a work of progress. The concept of homeland security is still new, and
is an outgrowth of longstanding multi-agency federal investments in
counter-terrorism programs given new urgency and new direction after
the fall 2001 terrorist attacks. Until FY 2001, counter-terrorism R&D
was an effort of about $500 million a year with the majority of support
coming from the Department of Defense (DOD), because it was assumed
that U.S.
military forces abroad were the most at risk from terrorist attacks.
After the September 11 and anthrax attacks, this thinking changed dramatically
and, as a consequence, homeland security as an effort to prevent, minimize,
and recover from terrorist attacks within the United States became a
new concept and mission for the federal government. Ultimately, this
newly-articulated mission found expression in a cabinet-level federal
department to consolidate many but not all federal counter-terrorism
programs, and a dramatic expansion of federal homeland security spending
both inside and outside the new DHS. But ‘homeland security’ is still
a concept grappling for a standardized definition, and is still a mission
area that cuts across traditionally defined government missions such
as justice, defense, and transportation.
Figure 2. (click
on the image for PDF)
From $1.5 billion in FY 2002,
mostly new funding enacted in the immediate aftermath of the fall 2001
terrorist attacks, the homeland security-related R&D portfolio more than
doubled to $3.3 billion in FY 2003, primarily because of a $1.5 billion
increase in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) biodefense
R&D portfolio (see Figure 1). In FY 2006, HS R&D growth would level off
somewhat and increase 4.9 percent to $4.4 billion because of continuing growth
in DHS and in other agencies. Within a tight overall discretionary budget in
which most R&D programs would see funding cuts or flat funding, HS R&D
would still fare better than the average.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has
supported bioterrorism-related research for years, but its research
portfolio became a high priority after the fall 2001 postal anthrax
attacks. In the FY 2006 request, biodefense
R&D continues to be a high priority. NIH identifies $1.8 billion
for biodefense R&D in FY 2006, up 0.4 percent from this year.
But a decline in biodefense laboratory construction
funding would allow for an 8 percent increase in biodefense R&D grants and contracts to a total of $1.7
billion. Most NIH biodefense R&D is funded
by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
NIAID would continue to award biodefense research
grants in FY 2006; fund clinical development of vaccines for plague,
tularemia, and other threats; fund clinical development of anthrax treatments;
and fund preclinical development of potential new therapies against
bioterror agents. After providing $148 million
this year to fund extramural construction for biosafety
level (BSL) 3 and 4 laboratories around the nation, NIAID would ramp
down to $30 million next year. In addition to funds in the NIH budget,
there would be an additional $97 million in funds from the Office of
the (HHS) Secretary for NIH to spend on developing medical countermeasures
against nuclear, radiological, and chemical terrorist attacks. (For
more on NIH R&D, see the NIH R&D Funding
Update.)
The
DHS R&D portfolio mirrors the trends in the overall DHS budget:
after annual increases greater than 20 percent in the first few years
of its existence, growth in the DHS R&D portfolio would level off with an FY 2006 request
of $1.3 billion, up $44 million or 3.6 percent (see Table).
Increases in some parts of the DHS R&D portfolio would require offsetting
cuts in other areas that have previously enjoyed large increases. Unlike
other DHS activities, DHS inherited few R&D programs from other
agencies at its birth in 2003; therefore, the large increases in R&D
funding for the past few years were devoted to building R&D capabilities
from scratch to meet the urgent need for science and technology to address
homeland security concerns. Now that the start-up phase of DHS R&D
is mostly complete, R&D programs should see more stable funding
profiles with trade-offs between different areas based on changing assessments
of DHS’ science and technology needs.
The top priorities in the DHS R&D portfolio would be radiological
and nuclear countermeasures (doubling to $246 million in FY 2006), including
the establishment of a Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO); chemical
countermeasures (almost doubling to $102 million); and R&D to counter
portable anti-aircraft missiles (up 80 percent to $110 million). The
FY 2006 budget would provide $227 million in FY 2006 for a new Domestic
Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO), which would make up most of the $246
million DHS investment in radiological and nuclear countermeasures,
double the $123 million FY 2005 investment. The DNDO would develop,
acquire, and support a domestic system to detect and report terrorist
attempts to transport or use radiological or nuclear materials. The
Counter MANPADS portfolio would nearly double to $110 million (up 80.3
percent). Man Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS) are shoulder-mounted
portable air missiles that have been used (unsuccessfully so far) against
passenger aircraft. Fears of a successful MANPADS attack against commercial
aircraft have jump-started DHS’ Counter MANPADS effort. A large part
of the 93 percent increase for R&D on chemical countermeasures to
$102 million would be for $20 million in new funds for a Low Volatility
Agent (LVA) Warning System. This development effort would attempt to
develop technologies that could detect and warn against chemical threats
with low vapor pressures that elude current detectors, with a vision
of deployable detectors that can detect and identify low-vapor threats
in time to respond effectively.
Large increases for the priorities above would
be offset by cuts in other areas of the DHS R&D portfolio, including
explosives countermeasures (down a quarter to $15 million), threat and
vulnerability assessments (down 29 percent to $47 million), standards
development (down 11 percent to $36 million), rapid prototyping (down
two-thirds to $21 million), critical infrastructure, cybersecurity,
and transportation security. TSA and Coast Guard R&D programs, mostly
in transportation security, funded at a combined $196 million in FY
2005 would be consolidated within the S&T Directorate at $117 million
in FY 2006, a dramatic reduction. (For more on DHS R&D, see the
DHS R&D Funding Update.)
The Department of Defense (DOD) would boost
its homeland security R&D funding by 8.7 percent to $394 million
in FY 2006. Nearly all of the investment would come from the Defense
Agencies, particularly the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
(DARPA), which focuses primarily on military applications in areas such
as biological warfare defense, and the Chemical and Biological Defense
Program (CBDP). While these agencies focus primarily on protecting U.S.
soldiers from biological and chemical attack on the battlefield, the
R&D results could have important insights on better protecting civilian
populations against attack. Both DARPA and CBDP would receive increases
in their chemical and biological defense R&D programs.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
has had only a small dedicated homeland security research effort until
now, but in recent years made enormous investments in securing its laboratory
facilities, which house pathogens such as anthrax, against terrorist
attack. Now, USDA plans to step up its homeland security research programs
with big investments this year and next year. Most of USDA’s homeland
security R&D funding in 2005 and 2006 would go to the renovation
of animal research and diagnostic facilities at the National Centers
for Animal Health in Ames, Iowa,
that would be the heart of a USDA-wide food and biosafety
initiative aimed at securing the U.S.
food supply against both natural and terrorist threats. The largest
increase in the USDA budget would be for homeland security-related research,
surging from $27 million this year to $69 million in 2006 split roughly
equally between food supply defense and agriculture defense. (For more
on USDA R&D, see the USDA R&D Funding
Update.)
Homeland
security-related R&D would be a big winner in the EPA R&D portfolio,
nearly tripling from $33 million in FY 2005 to $94 million next year
(see Table). EPA efforts would be focused
in two areas. Drinking water security research would be one priority,
and would involve EPA efforts to develop better surveillance and laboratory
networks for drinking water supplies to counter potential terrorist
threats. The other priority would be decontamination research, to develop
better technologies and methods for decontaminating terrorist attack
sites such as the Senate office buildings that EPA decontaminated from
anthrax in 2001. EPA would also continue threat and consequence assessments
and testing potential biodefense and other
decontamination technologies. Much of this work would be conducted at
EPA’s National Homeland Security Research Center (NHSRC) in Cincinnati.
(For more on EPA R&D, see the EPA R&D Funding
Update.)
Among other agencies, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Commerce
funds R&D on cryptography and computer security and will provide
scientific and technical support to DHS in these areas. The National Science Foundation (NSF) funds research to combat bioterrorism in the areas of infectious diseases and microbial
genome sequencing; these programs would increase slightly to $329 million
in FY 2006. The Department of
Energy (DOE) has longstanding expertise in countering radiological
and nuclear threats, and would continue its R&D efforts in FY 2006.
As
the Table shows, total homeland security funding would rise $4 billion or 4.9 percent to $50 billion next year
despite fiscal austerity for other federal government missions. The
majority of this $50 billion effort would be in the DHS.
(This analysis is an issue brief
highlighting budget data detailing the federal investment in homeland
security R&D, and is a preview of the forthcoming AAAS Report
XXX: R&D FY 2006, a comprehensive analysis of R&D in the
FY 2006 budget. More materials on R&D in the FY 2006 budget, historical
data and charts, and more information on AAAS Report XXX: Research
and Development FY 2006, can be found on the AAAS R&D Web site
at http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd.)
- March 4, 2005
AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program
1200 New York Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 326-6607; -6600
www.aaas.org/spp/rd
