Department of Homeland Security FY 2023 Budget Request Highlights

In late March the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released its fiscal year (FY) 2023 budget request with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ranking among the highest-funded civilian departments.

Total Discretionary Funding and Priorities

The proposed FY 2023 budget provides $56.7B in total discretionary budget authority, a 5.4% increase from FY 2021. An additional $19.7B for the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) is provided for disaster response, recovery and resilience. (Due to the close timing of final FY 2022 appropriations, investment levels in the FY 2023 budget are compared to 2021 funding, as agencies work to implement funding levels from the FY 2022 omnibus.)

Funding highlights include:

• Allots $108M for Transportation Security Administration’s Checkpoint Property Screening System (CPSS) program and $19M for On-Person Screening Algorithm Development to address capability gaps in screening technology while improving passenger experience and wait times.
• Provides $309M for modern border security technology and assets, including $63M for Border Enforcement Coordination Network (BECN) modernization, $37M to enhance the Border Patrol’s situational awareness through the Common Operating Picture, $24M for the Tactical Maritime Surveillance System (TMSS), and $14M for the Integrated Surveillance Tower program to consolidate legacy surveillance towers.
• Proposes $75M to improve various assets, systems, and application databases such as Team Awareness Kits (TAK), Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), and law enforcement equipment.
• Provides $89M to improve and modernize Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) laboratories.

DHS Information Technology Budget

The FY 2023 IT budget request for DHS is $8.9B in total IT funding allocated across its agencies, directorates and offices, representing an aggregate 21% increase over the topline FY 2021 level. (If the FY 2022 figures are accurate, the increase for FY 2023 would be 5.8%.) This budget data does not include spending on classified programs or those categorized as “National Security Systems,” which OMB began excluding from their IT budget data since the FY 2019 budget cycle.

Within this total request the new budget allocates just over $1.0B – more than 11% of the total $8.9B IT budget –to new Development/Modernization/Enhancement (DME) spending for FY 2023, which is 40.9% more than FY 2021, (and 9.0% more than FY 2022, again if DHS’s figures are accurate.) (See table below.)

Noteworthy IT Programs

Probing the details of DHS’s IT budget published on OMB’s IT Dashboard gives deeper insight into their investments, initiatives and priorities. Here are the five largest IT initiatives across DHS for FY 2023 including observations about budget growth and their proportion of new development spending.

• Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM): CDM provides continuous monitoring, diagnosis, and mitigation capabilities to strengthen the security posture of the federal civilian networks. The $423M requested for this investment is $98M (+30%) above the FY 2021 budget level and consists of 78% DME funding.
• National Cybersecurity Protection System (NCPS): Provides a wide range of cyber security capabilities for .gov networks such as intrusion detection and prevention; advanced cyber analytics and visualization; incident management; and information sharing. At $408M for FY 2023, NCPS receives $16M (+4%) more than the FY 2021 enacted level. The investment consists of 22% Development, Modernization and Enhancement (DME) funding.
• CBP - End User: The CBP End User Standard Investment supports the computers, software, computer peripherals, and the associated technical support required to carry out CBP's mission. For FY 2023 this program receives $189M, including an $835K (+0.4%) increase from FY 2021. This investment is 100% Operations and Maintenance (O&M).
• USCG - Network: This investment provides a CGOne or CGOne Net network to enable secure mission critical data exchange between CG members, applications, contractors, and other agencies. At $187M for FY 2023 this investment receives a $79M (+73%) increase from FY 2021 and consists of 2% Development, Modernization and Enhancement (DME) funding.
• CBP - Non-Intrusive Inspection (NII) Systems: NII technologies support the detection and prevention of contraband from entering the U.S., while having a minimal impact on the flow of legitimate commerce. At $181M for FY 2023, NII receives $25M (+16%) more than the FY 2021 level. The investment consists of 1% Development, Modernization and Enhancement (DME) funding.

As is usually the case, each new DHS yearly budget proposal contains a mix of winners and losers among its components. For FY 2023, the mix is heavily weighted toward the winner column with only a few components seeing reductions – and that depends upon which previous year is used for comparison.

Compared to their FY 2021 levels, practically none of the DHS components are requesting less funding for FY 2023, with the exception of DHS-wide (-$11.2M) and the Office of Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives (OCBRNE), -$868K). When comparing their FY 2023 requests to FY 2022, only TSA, ICE, DHS-wide and OCBRNE are requesting less than what they are expecting to spend in the current fiscal year.

In fact, nearly all of the largest DHS components are indicating a budget increase in the current FY 2022, compared to FY 2021. The one exception is the Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS), but they are requesting a rebound for FY 2023.