The House Appropriations Committee this month marked up its version of the FY ’15 Homeland Security spending bill, allocating $39.2 billion in discretionary spending, an $887.8 million increase to the Obama Administration’s request, in line with recommendations of the HAC Homeland Security Subcommittee in late May.
The bill provides $126.8 million for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to recapitalize and maintain its aging small and large-scale non-intrusive inspection systems. The recommended appropriation is $2.9 million more than requested.
The additional funds are for the deployment of a biometric exit mobile deployment at two airports in 2015 as part of a demonstration project. The biometric exit demonstration will allow CBP officers to collect biometrics using handheld devices “from a statistically significant sample of foreign national departing the United States in the airport jet bridge,” a report accompanying the proposed spending bill says.
The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate and CBP later this month will begin testing biometric technologies in a laboratory environment for applications to verifying the identities of foreign nationals departing the U.S. at airports.
The bill also proposes $412.5 million for the Border Security Fencing, Infrastructure, and Technology (BSFIT) account, a $50 million plus-up to the request. The added funds include an additional $27.5 million for development and deployment efforts and $22.5 million for operations and maintenance (O&M).
Within the development and deployment spending line, $90 million is for Mobile and Remote Video Surveillance Systems, $7.5 million for logistics support for 22 MVSSs, $10 million for infrastructure improvements needed for any deployment of upgraded RVSS, $10 million for unattended ground sensors and imaging sensors, a cross border tunnel threat analysis of alternatives, and a communications study.
In the O&M line, $20 million of the added money is for supporting repurposed Defense Department equipment, including tethered aerostat surveillance systems. Of note, the report encourages CBP to retain its Ultra-Light Aircraft Detection (ULAD) radar system to detect small low-flying aircraft, saying it’s is a “one-of-a-kind system…with a unique detection capability against an elusive threat.” The report seems to indicate that CBP plans to cancel ULAD.
The committee’s bill takes a nibble out of the Transportation Security Administration’s request for airport checkpoint technologies, providing $103.4 million, a $67,000 cut to the request. However, due to continued findings by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) of flaws in the agency’s Advanced Imaging Technology program, the bill prohibits the agency from using funds to buy the body scanners until the GAO’s concerns are addressed. The report cites a March 2014 report by the congressional auditors that the agency stops purchasing the AIT systems until more testing and analysis is done.
The bill’s provision for checked baggage procurement and installation is also inline with the request, with $83.9 million allotted, just $142,000 below the requested amount. The bill also retains language included in the FY ’12 appropriations that permits TSA to use the Aviation Security Capital Fund, which stands at $250 million, to buy new and replacement explosive detection systems (EDS) used to screen checked bags.
Language in the report accompanying the spending bill directs TSA to lift a ban the agency imposed in Aug. 2013 that prevents checked baggage inspection systems from using EDS equipment that is not yet on the agency’s qualified products list. The committee wants the ban lifted on “airports that are more than 12 months from construction and are able to demonstrate, through a cost benefit analysis, that high-speed EDS would be more efficient and result in long term cost savings compared to medium-speed systems.”