Research and Development in the Department of Homeland Security

Publication Date: June 2003

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Science and technology

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Abstract:

The Department of Homeland Security incorporates a number of research and development activities that were transferred from other agencies when the department was established by the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-296). It also includes a number of new activities. The Department of Homeland Security has requested a budget of approximately $1 billion for research and development in FY2004, of which approximately $800 million would fund the Science and Technology Directorate, with the remainder divided among R&D programs in various other parts of the department, such as the Transportation Security Administration and the Coast Guard. (Despite this substantial funding, the department is by no means the only federal agency that conducts homeland securityrelated R&D.)

This report describes the research and development programs of the Department of Homeland Security and discusses the issues that surround them. These issues include matters specific to individual programs, such as their objectives, budgets, and management and the status of their integration into the new department, as well as general questions, such as the department's model for organizing, funding, and conducting its research and development activities and the challenges it faces for internal and external research and development coordination.