By Calvin Biesecker
A $19 million planned reduction in FY ’11 for cyber security spending stems from new organizational efficiencies on managing cyber within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as well as not having to repeat some one-time expenses contained in the FY ’10 budget, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said yesterday.
Napolitano defended the proposed $379 million budget next year for DHS’ National Cyber Security Division in the face of criticism from some senators about the potential for reduced cyber security funding in FY ’11. In FY ’10, DHS will be largely done paying for an ongoing data center migration that will result in better security for its information technology infrastructure, she said. The budget request also excludes some earmarks that were added in FY ’10, she said.
Napolitano’s remarks did little to allay the concerns of Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the ranking member on the committee.
“I worry that we’re waiting for a Cyber 9/11 before taking this as seriously as we must,” Collins said. She said that money saved from improved efficiencies should be reinvested to expand cyber defense capabilities against a constantly changing threat.
Napolitano said that she would be willing to go into more detail in a classified hearing about the new efficiencies and rationale for the cyber budget request, including updates on key programs such as the Einstein cyber monitoring and intrusion detection program.
At that hearing and another one later in the day before the Senate Appropriations Homeland Security subcommittee, Napolitano noted that DHS has the ability to directly hire 1,000 new cyber security professionals during the next three years, which will bolster the department’s capabilities. Direct hiring authority allows a government agency to bypass some of the more strict federal hiring guidelines in order to more quickly add talent to the workforce.
However, Napolitano told Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio), ranking member of the Appropriations panel, that the direct hiring authority still doesn’t give DHS the ability to just “snap our fingers and onboard a person.”
“In the cyber world, we almost need to be able to work that fast and we’re not there yet,” she said.
Moreover, Napolitano said, there are additional issues associated with the types of “cyber individuals” DHS would like to hire, such as the salary structure they are used to.
The nation needs a civilian cyber command in the same way it needs a military cyber command, she said.
“So we are not where I’d like to see us from an overall capacity, but we have moved a great deal forward in the past months,” Napolitano said. “It’s really front and center as part of our priorities.”
Regarding hiring authority, Napolitano said in general the hiring process in the federal government is too “slow.” She said the White House and Office of Personnel Management are working on initiatives to decrease the time it takes to hire someone.
The inability to quickly hire people to become federal employees is one of the impediments to rebalancing DHS’s workforce. Napolitano this week sent a report to the Collins and Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, showing that DHS has 200,000 contractors working for it, exceeding its 188,000 civilian employees. The civilian workforce excludes uniformed Coast Guard personnel.
Napolitano said her department is working on rebalancing its work force. Lieberman said the current numbers are “astounding and unsettling.” He also said the number of contractor employees is “unacceptable” and raises the question of who is in charge of the department’s mission.
In other matters, Lieberman and Collins in their hearing, and Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W. Va.), chairman of the Appropriations Homeland Security panel, voiced their objection to a proposed $75 million cut in the Coast Guard’s FY ’11 budget, which would reduce uniformed personnel by over 1,100. Napolitano responded by saying it came down to making the choice in a constrained budget environment between recapitalizing Coast Guard assets and other things. She said that recapitalization is the priority.
Collins told Napolitano that a $200 million line item in the proposed DHS budget to provide security in New York City for pending terrorist trials in federal courts should instead be provided to the Coast Guard to fund its expanding mission set. Collins said that Congress will end up denying the funds for the trial in anyway.
Napolitano said she is not part of the discussions to hold the terror trials in federal court in New York, but said wherever they might be held there will be security costs associated with the proceedings. She also said that she would not presume that the costs would be less than $200 million if the trials aren’t held in New York City.