DHS asks for nearly $1 billion to protect critical networks, systems

The Homeland Security Department requested about a 15 percent increase in funding for fiscal 2010 to defend the nation's critical infrastructure such as the electrical grid and financial sector, and for cybersecurity to protect government systems, according to the administration's budget released on Thursday.

DHS asked for $918 million to support the Office of Infrastructure Protection, which leads coordinated efforts with industry to protect the nation's critical industries, including transportation and energy systems. Some of the money will be applied to information technology and cybersecurity, although the DHS did not break out technology spending.

The amount also included funding for the Office of Cybersecurity and Communications, which includes the National Communications System, the Office of Emergency Communications, and the National Cyber Security Division. Homeland Security wants to use about $400 million of the $918 million to expand the national cybersecurity protection program, said DHS Chief Financial Officer Peggy Sherry. The amount represents an increase of $87.2 million, or 22 percent, from fiscal 2009, and would support development of the third version of Einstein, the intrusion detection system that the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team uses to monitor federal networks for suspicious activity.

The department budgeted an additional $37 million to address "critical capability gaps identified in the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative," said a DHS spokesperson. The initiative is the largely classified governmentwide cybersecurity program introduced during the Bush administration. No specifics were provided about how the additional funds would be spent.

"That is a plus-up from what we expected, and probably the appropriate amount based on functions the National Cyber Security Division [is expected] to execute," said Gregory Garcia, who served as assistant secretary of cybersecurity and telecommunications at DHS during the Bush administration and now runs his own information security consulting firm, Garcia Strategies.

He added that the more than $500 million remaining for infrastructure protection may fall short, however. "From my perspective, the program [that protects] infrastructure control systems needs substantial resources to ensure a national reach across the relevant sectors," Garcia said.

Recent reports about cyber intrusions against the nation's electrical grid resulted in measures from Congress to better protect the computer systems that control those operations.

A large percentage of cybersecurity funds typically come from alternative sources within the federal budget, as former DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff noted last year. Results of the Obama administration's 60-day review of federal cybersecurity programs, scheduled to be released any day, likely will provide additional insight into how the administration will pay for the new initiatives. Dollars allocated to the Secure Border Initiative, a multi-year plan aimed at stemming the flow of undocumented immigrants and possible terrorists from Mexico and Canada, remained flat at $779 million, compared with fiscal 2009.

DHS recently announced construction of physical barriers along the United States' southwestern border with Mexico is nearly complete, and it would shift its focus to the technology portion of the program, which incorporates a combination of sensors, cameras and control towers to monitor activity along the border. No funds were allocated to fencing along the border, a DHS official confirmed.

The department also pegged $356 million for the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology program, which it developed in 2003 to check the identities of foreign travelers entering and exiting the United States at airports and seaports. The 2010 budget figure represents an increase of $56 million from fiscal 2009.

DHS requested $144.9 million to support implementation of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which requires citizens and other travelers coming into the United States by land and sea from countries in the Western Hemisphere to present secure identification documents, such as passports.