News

FY 2014 Budget Request ? DHS

04/12/2013

The Administration’s FY 2014 request for the Infrastructure Security Compliance Division (ISCD) is $7.9 million above the $77.9 ISCD received in FY 2013, and $7.6 million below what it got in FY 2012.  ISCD oversees CFATS and the proposal Ammonium Nitrate Security Program.  There are no new requested full-time positions (FTP), but the request fully-funds 28 full-time equivalents (FTE) authorized in FY 2012.  The request lays out one metric by which DHS will assess the performance of ISCD. This is the percent of risk-based performance standards (RBPS) implemented by Tier 1 and 2 facilities as verified by DHS.   There is no mention of PSP program.

The Administration proposes to fund TSA’s Surface Transportation Security Programs at $35.4 million, a reduction of $3.1 million over FY 2012 and the elimination of one staff position.  As a program accomplishment, the budget request highlights the testing done in 2010-2011 to examine the detonability of ammonium nitrate, both FGAN and TGAN.  The conclusion was that “AN (with no fuel added) could sustain a detonation … under certain circumstances.”  More study is recommended to understand “the conditions and type of explosives needed to detonate an AN hopper rail car” and to “determine appropriate security and operational standards.”

TSA’s “Universal Fee Rule” which will standardize vetting, adjudication and redress among the eight individual stove-piped vetting programs currently administered by TSA is expected to be published in FY 2016.  This is a 2-year delay from what was initially projected by the White House.  Additionally, DHS warns if this program does not receive a requested $30 million increase to the program’s $53.4 million current services level, which was rescinded in FY 2012 when implementation fell behind schedule, additional implementation delays should be expected.