The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Tuesday asked Congress for $40.6 billion in discretionary spending in FY ’17, a nearly 1 percent increase from the $41 billion Congress provided in FY ’16 with the Coast Guard and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) targeted for most of the cuts to the benefit of Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

The Coast Guard’s discretionary portion of the request is $8.2 billion for FY ’17, 10 percent lower than the FY ’16 level, with just over $1.1 billion sought for the service’s acquisition account, down from more than $1.9 billion this year. The biggest driver to the drop in the Coast Guard’s request is the absence of funding for the National Security Cutter (NSC).DHS Logo DHS

Congress in the FY ’16 budget appropriated $640 million for a ninth NSC that wasn’t requested by the Coast Guard. The extra ship pumped up the service’s acquisition account in FY ’16, making the drop in the request look worse than it is. Huntington Ingalls Industries [HII] builds the NSC.

Still, the Coast Guard request seeks less funding for aircraft overall and calls for four Fast Response Cutters (FRC) for $240 million built by Bollinger Shipyards versus the six FRC’s funded at $340 million in the FY ’16 budget.

The request also includes $150 million to complete design of the new polar-class icebreaker to enable production activities to begin in FY ’20, $100 million to complete the preliminary and contract design phase and conduct the initial critical design review of the Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) and procure long-lead time materials for the lead ship. The OPC is in the competitive phase with three shipbuilders vying for the award to complete design and build up to 11 of the planned 25 vessels.

The request for the NSC program is $127 million for post delivery activities and to begin installation of shipboard small Unmanned Aircraft Systems components on a second vessel.

The Coast Guard is also seeking $130 million for the C-27J program, which is for aircraft being transferred from the Air Force to include the start of missionization of the aircraft for the Coast Guard’s needs. L-3 Communications [LLL] is providing the mission package for the C-27J.

DHS is proposing in the FY ’17 budget to consolidate its Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO), Office of Health Affairs (OHA), and Office of Bomb Prevention in a new Chemical Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives (CBRNE) Office funded at $501.4 million. DNDO, which develops and acquires radiological and nuclear detection devices and systems for the entire department, received $347.1 million in FY ’16 while OHA, which operates the nation’s BioWatch system, received $125.4 million in FY ’16. The office wants $81.9 million for BioWatch.

DHS said the new CBRNE Office is being created to “elevate and focus CBRNE missions” within the department.

CBP is asking for $11.3 billion in gross discretionary funds in FY ’17, up from $10.7 billion this year, with the increase going toward operations and support. The agency is seeking $525.4 million for various border security technology efforts versus $551 million provided in FY ’16. The Integrated Fixed Tower program, which is under contract to Israel’s Elbit Systems [ESLT], would receive $52.1 million, a nearly $20 million increase, supporting deployments of the system to three more areas along the United States border within Arizona.

The Non-Intrusive Inspection Systems program would get $173.8 million, more than $35 million less than this year. The agency also wants $33.5 million for surveillance programs that include tactical aerostats and re-locatable towers.

The agency’s Land Border Integration (LBI) efforts, which are contracted to Unisys [UIS], seek $74.1 million, level with this year. CBP is using the LBI contract to explore the use of various biometric technologies at select land and airports for foreign nationals entering and exiting the country.

The budget request also proposes to transfer the department’s biometric identity services provider, the Office of Biometric Identity Management, or OBIM, from the National Protection and Programs Directorate to CBP. OBIM is currently working on a plan for a next-generation biometric database to replace the current IDENT system. DHS is seeking $52.8 million for the new system, called HART, which will include iris and facial recognition in addition to the current fingerprints.  HART received $65 million from Congress in FY ’16.

While CBP is the largest customer of OBIM’s biometric services, there are other customers, including the State Department, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, TSA, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Coast Guard. IDENT averages 310,000 transactions per day.

TSA is requesting $4.1 billion in discretionary spending for FY ’17, $764 million less than enacted in FY ’16 with the agency’s operations and support accounts bearing the brunt of the cut while a slight increase is sought for procurement, construction and improvements.

Under the procurement accounts the agency is seeking $206.1 million, a more than $6 million increase, with some of the funding going toward enhanced screening algorithms for the Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) systems to better detect threats on passengers. The improved algorithm will boost image quality to achieve increased threat detection and reduce false alarms. The AIT systems came under intense scrutiny last year when the DHS Inspector General reported that most of the systems failed to detect threats in covert testing. L-3 makes the AIT systems for TSA.

TSA also plans to develop an enhanced algorithm for checkpoint Advanced Technology (AT) X-ray image analysis to increase the ability of its screening officers to find prohibited items in carry-on bags by alerting them via the marking of selected items on the operator screen.

Most of the discretionary procurement funding request, $199.8 million, would go toward acquiring technology used for passenger and baggage screening. This funding excludes an additional $250 million in aviation security fees that also goes toward the procurement account.

Budget justification documents sent to Congress show that TSA plans to purchase 296 AT X-ray systems for the checkpoint under a $38.8 million budget. The installation costs are pegged at another $10.4 million. Britain’s Smiths Detection and OSI Systems [OSIS] provide AT X-ray systems to TSA.

The only other checkpoint equipment purchase shown in the documents is 70 enhanced metal detectors for $756,000.

For checked baggage screening, TSA plans to buy 77 medium-speed explosives detection systems (EDS) for $77million, and 10 reduced-size EDS for $4 million. L-3, Leidos [LDOS], and France’s Safran Group supply EDS to TSA. Installation costs for the systems are about $20 million.

In the area of cyber security operations, the budget proposal within NPPD calls for a significant increase over FY ’16 levels, $745.9 million versus $563.2 million. Most of the increase is for the Continuous Diagnostics and Monitoring (CDM) program, which would get $274.8 million versus $102.7 million in FY ’16. The National Cyber Security Protection System, also called the EINTSTEIN intrusion detection and prevent systems, would received $471.1 million versus $460.5 million in FY ’16.

The requested funding for EINSTEIN is for maintaining current operations as well as investing in new capabilities for analytics, information sharing and intrusion prevention, DHS says.

Within NPPD’s Infrastructure Analysis account, the DHS National Cybersecurity and Communication Integration Center, or NCCIC, would receive $211.3 million in FY ’17 for watch center operations. The request includes an increase of nearly $40 million to begin implementing a new staffing plan based on a surge in analytic demands.

The department’s Science and Technology Directorate is asking for $758.7 million in FY ’17, $28.2 million less than provided in FY ’16. Funding for operations and support functions would increase slightly but research and development accounts, including university programs, would see a nearly $27 million cut as proposed. Part of the decrease, $7.9 million, is related to the proposed transfer of threat assessment program funding to the CBRNE Office.