Columbia: Homeland Security Money Trail

Do You Know Where Your Taxpayer Dollars for Homeland Security Are Being Spent?

Homeland security vs. non-homeland security allocation requested in FY 2007 (click chart to enlarge)

The Department of Homeland Security was created in early 2003 to protect the United States against terrorist attacks and direct all government spending on homeland security, but that isn’t exactly what happened. DHS has received only half of the federal government's homeland security budget and the department spends a large chunk of its budget on tasks unrelated to homeland security.

Of the roughly $40 billion Congress appropriates for DHS each year, 40 percent is spent on goals other than homeland protection. That’s because the department was formed through a merger of 22 agencies that had mandates other than homeland security; DHS inherited those responsibilities.

How Much Homeland Security Spending Does the Department of Homeland Security Actually Spend?

Homeland Security spending by department, 2007 request (click chart to enlarge)

Four years ago President George W. Bush agreed to a new approach in addressing the threat of terrorism. He announced his support for the creation of the Department of Homeland Security – the largest governmental reorganization since the creation of the Defense Department after World War II.

This was a change from his initial plan, announced just nine days after September 11, 2001, to appoint Tom Ridge, the former governor of Pennsylvania, as director of the Office of Homeland Security. Ridge was to oversee the federal government’s response to terrorism from inside the White House. But members of Congress asserted that Ridge lacked power to get the job done and insisted on the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. Among the chief powers he needed, they said, was control over homeland security spending.

Are Department of Homeland Security Grants Politics As Usual?

Where should the money go?

On May 31, the Department of Homeland Security announced $1.7 billion in federal homeland security grants to cities and states for fiscal year 2006 – and set off a firestorm of criticism. The overall total fell, and both New York and Washington felt the pinch. 

Homeland Security Funding Bill Moves to Senate

The House of Representatives voted 389-9 on June 6 to approve the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill for fiscal year 2007.

With a net discretionary budget of $32.08 billion, the House bill is $1.8 billion over the FY2006 levels and more than $1 billion over the President’s budget request. According to Congress Daily’s Chris Strohm, the bill and its corresponding committee report are relatively free of earmarks (though there are still some in there), indicating that perhaps House lawmakers are serious about cleaning up their act in the wake of the Cunningham and Abramoff scandals.

But discussion of the bill wasn’t without debate.

Our Mission Statement

Columbia's News21 fellows will "follow the money" and assess the "security-industrial complex" - the web of contracts and relationships the government is forging with private industry to fulfill its homeland security mandate.

We''ll look at the money being spent on homeland security -- which industries and which companies are doing what at what price, how much is being outsourced vs. being done by government employees, what new companies have sprung up with what new products/services, how the contracts are awarded and what lobbying money is being spent to get those contracts. (We will not cover traditional military/defense contracts.)

We'll assess who the big players are and their track records, where the pork is, what, if any, conflicts of interest exist, how effective the new contracts/measures have proven so far, and the potential long-term cost to taxpayers vs. potential benefits. We may also look at campaign contributions to assess any links with contracts. We may also look at what isn't being spent that should be, and why it isn't.