ARTicles: Rene -- Megabucks for homeland security

Megabucks for homeland security

http://business-times.asia1.com.sg/story/0,4567,104940,00.html
Business Times - 12 Jan 2004

By RAJU CHELLAM

ON Oct 1, 2003, President George W Bush approved US$37.4 billion in the FY04 budget for the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Of that, US$918.2 million is for science and technology, and US$839.3 million for information analysis and infrastructure protection.

With a US$1 billion budget for research alone, the DHS has become one of the leading R&D agencies of the US federal government. The lion's share of that - US$918.2 million - is earmarked for science and technology, says the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

'This is more than eight times the budget originally slated for the purpose in 2002 - and except for US$2 million for overhead - all of it will be spent on R&D,' says the AAAS. 'The directorate has also asked for US$365 million to devise counter-measures to make biological attacks less likely and minimise their impact.'

The DHS will also form its own R&D arm this year. The acronym HSARPA (Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency), sounds like DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) and is modelled upon it. 'HSARPA will award grants for basic and applied research to foster significant changes in homeland security technologies,' the AAAS says. 'The present budget request is about US$350 million, but could exceed the current authorised amount of US$500 million, depending on circumstances.'

The Bush Administration has also budgeted for R&D projects outside the DHS. For example, the National Institutes of Health R&D bio-terrorism portfolio calls for US$1.6 billion. The Department of Justice wants US$12 million for technologies to share information on terrorism threats, and another US$60 million to investigate cybercrime.