Bush Requests Funds for WMD Terror Defense

The Bush administration’s fiscal 2009 budget request for the Homeland Security Department, released yesterday, would provide tens of millions of dollars in additional funding for chemical security, biological defense and other counterterrorism programs (see GSN, July 11, 2007).

The proposed $50.5 billion funding plan represents a 6.8 percent increase from the current fiscal year, not including emergency supplemental funds.

Under the president’s proposal, the agency’s Domestic Nuclear Detection Office would receive a $334.2 million budget “for the development and evolution of the global nuclear detection architecture,” according to a Homeland Security press release.  That includes development of new portable radiation sensors and next-generation detectors designed to spot dangerous radioactive materials in private vehicles, trucks and cargo containers (see GSN, Jan. 9).

A $34.5-million budget increase for Biowatch, the U.S. biological agent detection framework, would fund the purchase and deployment of new automated sensors for detecting the release of dangerous disease agents (see GSN, Feb. 8, 2007).

The request includes $19 million to provide the Secret Service with advanced technology for responding to attacks involving explosives or chemical, radiological or biological weapons.

A $13-million budget increase for the National Protection and Programs Directorate’s chemical security compliance program would allow the agency to hire new inspectors and acquire additional equipment to ensure that chemical facilities working with sensitive substances are complying with federal security standards (see GSN, Dec. 13, 2007).

Another $43 million in new funds would support initial laboratory operations at the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center, a national biological defense facility under construction at Fort Detrick, Md. (see GSN, Jan. 29).

Homeland Security would provide $2.2 billion in grant funding for state and local counterterrorism and disaster preparedness efforts through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (see GSN, Jan. 10; U.S. Homeland Security Department release, Feb. 4).

One lawmaker argued that $2.2 billion would not provide sufficient assistance to state and local preparedness efforts, the Associated Press reported.

“It’s impossible to secure our nation without securing our communities first," said House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.).

The Bush administration is seeking a total of $11 billion for WMD defense efforts, a funding increase of 35 percent, AP reported.  Fiscal 2009 begins Oct. 1 (Eileen Sullivan, Associated Press/International Herald Tribune, Feb. 5).

The president’s $22.7 billion Justice Department budget request for fiscal year 2009 includes $492.7 million to support the department’s counterterrorism intelligence analysis capabilities for identifying, tracking and neutralizing terrorist entities in and outside of the United States.

The FBI would receive a $7.1 billion budget including $447.4 million in investments for its counterterrorism, surveillance and WMD response programs.  A $235.5 million allocation for the FBI’s national security investigations would partially support intelligence collection involving WMD-related activities (U.S. Justice Department release, Feb. 4).

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