DOJ FY 2026 Budget Reflects Renewed Priorities in National Security

While budget documents for several civilian agencies have been out for a few weeks now, Justice only recently released details for its FY 2026 budget.  The department is requesting $33.9B in total discretionary authority for FY 2026, an 8% decrease, or $3.0B, from FY 2025. Note that the discretionary total does not include fee collections, spending authority adjustments and scorekeeping credits.

The decrease in budget is driven by a reduction in the workforce, the elimination of some state and local grant programs, as well as Justice’s plans for reorganization and streamlining of offices and functions. In particular, the FY 2026 request includes $823M in reduction and elimination in grant programs under the Office of Justice Programs such as Body-Worn Camera Partnerships, Community-Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative, and the Justice Reinvestment Initiative, among several others.

Moreover, the DOJ budget supports the consolidation of agency components from 40 to 30 and the streamlining of administrative support functions among litigating components that have their own administration teams. Among the components that will be eliminated are the Tax Division, INTERPOL Washington, and eventually the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) which will be consolidated under the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

According to the budget document’s summary, the FY 2026 budget reflects top priorities under the Trump Administration including, “combating violent crime, transnational organized crime, and gangs; responding to the scourge of illegal immigration; addressing illegal drug use and the opioid epidemic; and implementing fair and impartial justice. Importantly, the request affirms the President’s commitment to fiscal responsibility and preserving taxpayer resources”. Budget totals to support these priorities include:

• $11.0B to combat violent crime
• $10.0B to address drug crimes
• $3.2B to combat transnational organized crime
• $3.6B to address immigration enforcement
• $2.3B to address southwest border enforcement

Looking at the DOJ budget from another perspective, the department’s FY 2026 discretionary funding is divided up by the following categories:

Source: DOJ budget

Below is the discretionary breakdown by DOJ bureau:

Source: DOJ budget

Additional DOJ Observations

• Reduces funding under several DOJ components due to a decreased reliance on contractor support services including at the DEA (-$108M), National Security Division (-$2.6M), Civil Rights Division (-$700K), JOMA (-$657K), Office of the Solicitor General (-$74K), and Office of Legal Counsel (-$49K).
• Allocates $10.0B to the FBI, including a $646M decrease in the bureau’s Criminal, Cyber, Response and Services Branch and the National Security Branch. The budget provides an additional $27M for the FBI Classified Program.
• Maintains Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) funding at $844M and includes renewal of the Anti-Fraud Program by bolstering data analytics, predictive modeling and technological resources capabilities.
• Requests $50M at Justice Information Sharing Technology (JIST), including CIO transfer authority of up to $40M for DOJ enterprise IT initiatives, and $12M to advance zero trust architecture for classified systems.
• Provides $95M at the Bureau of Prisons to hire correctional officers across institutions nationwide.

Stay tuned as the Federal Market Analysis team here at Deltek continues to unpack the FY 2026 federal budget. For an initial overview of the budget, refer to FY 2026 President’s Budget Request – GovWin FMA’s First Take.