First Look at the DHS FY 2018 Budget Request

Published: May 24, 2017

BudgetCritical Infrastructure ProtectionCybersecurityDHSInformation TechnologyPolicy and Legislation

The White House’s full fiscal year (FY) 2018 budget would give the Department of Homeland Security increases in discretionary and technology spending.

On Tuesday, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) submitted an updated and complete FY 2018 budget request with detailed spending plans for each Executive Branch department and agency, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Department of Homeland Security FY 2018 Budget Overview

If implemented as requested, DHS would receive $50.9B in total Discretionary funding, including $44.1B in Base Discretionary funding and $6.8B in Disaster Relief supplemental funding. This would be a 6.8% increase over the enacted FY 2017 budget.

Component agencies and directorates that would see significant increases in budget authority over FY 2017 include:

  • Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) receives a $835M increase (+23%)
  • Customs and Border Protection (CBP) receives a $2.9B increase (+22%)
  • Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) receives a $29M increase (+12%)
  • Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) receives a $1.8B increase (29%)
  • National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD) receives an increase of $196M (+6.4%)
  • Transportation Security Administration (TSA) receives a $156M increase (+2.1%)
  • U.S. Secret Service (USSS) receives an $18M increase (+0.8%)

DHS’s Information Technology (IT) budget is set at $6.8B, which includes a $65M increase (+1%) over the enacted FY 2017 level, (which was flat from FY 2016.)

Key DHS Funding Priorities

The inaugural budget request for the Trump Administration highlights several DHS spending priorities from borders security to cybersecurity and includes efforts to bolster personnel, infrastructure, and technology capabilities. Some noteworthy budget items include:

  • $1.6B to begin building a wall along the border with Mexico – specifically for 32 miles of new border wall construction, 28 miles of levee wall along the Rio Grande Valley, and 14 miles of a new border wall system that will replace existing secondary fence in the San Diego Sector, where apprehensions are the highest.
  • $976M for high-priority tactical infrastructure and border security technology improvements to provide a layered defense at the border and to ensure CBP law enforcement personnel have effective surveillance technology and equipment, including tactical communications.
  • $109M for CBP’s Non-Intrusive Inspection (NII) equipment program, which allows for passive radiation scanning and X-ray/gamma-ray imaging of cargo and conveyances by land, sea, and air to identify terrorist weapons and other contraband.
  • $100M to support more than 20K Border Patrol positions, including recruiting, hiring, and training 500 new Border Patrol agents.
  • $132M for E-Verify operations and upgrades for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), including new investments to expand the E-Verify program to support mandatory use of EVerify nationwide within three years.
  • $971M to improve the security of U.S. cyber infrastructure in collaboration with public, private, and international partners, including $279M for the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program.
  • $397M for the National Cybersecurity Protection System, (i.e. EINSTEIN), to continue deploying new intrusion prevention, information sharing, and analytic capabilities to civilian departments and agencies.
  • $57M for Next Generation Networks (NGN) to maintain the number of wireless carriers deploying Priority Telecommunications Services, enabling NGN to maintain the same coverage across the United States regardless of network technology.
  • $49M in additional funds for the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) to execute new authorities under the Federal Information Security Modernization Act, including providing governance and training and cyber engineering assistance to departments, agencies, and individual stakeholders to effectively secure high value systems from cyber threats.
  • $1.9B to support the USSS’s dual missions to protect U.S. financial infrastructure and the highest elected leaders, visiting foreign dignitaries, facilities, and major events. Included in this amount is $1.3B to support a target 7,150 positions – an increase of 436 positions from FY 2017 – and $86M to support Protective Infrastructure and Technology.

Like every White House budget submission, the FY 2018 request will require Congress to appropriate funds to support the initiatives and priorities behind them. Some items above, like the border wall, have been a political lightning rod throughout the Trump Administration’s first 100 days, so it will likely be several months before we will begin to see what areas Congress will get behind with funding.