The Trump administration has proposed funding decreases in fiscal 2018 to the State Department’s arms control and nonproliferation work, as well as reductions for the Department of Homeland Security’s Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO).
The White House released last week a budget proposal requesting $37.6 billion for the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development for fiscal 2018, a significant 30 percent decrease from the $53.1 billion the department currently receives under the fiscal 2017 omnibus appropriations spending bill.
More specifically, the budget requested $5.3 billion for diplomatic and consular programs – down from the current $6.1 billion. This includes the diplomatic policy and support line item that covers the department’s arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament activities, which would receive $722.4 million under the proposal for “management of U.S. participation in arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament negotiations and other verification and compliance activities,” according to the budget document.
Diplomatic policy and support currently receives $757.7 million, which means in fiscal 2018 it would see a decrease of $35.3 million under the proposed level – a modest decrease in light of the 30 percent overall proposed cut to the department.
Trump’s budget also proposed $312.8 million for nonproliferation, anti-terrorism, demining and related programs – an account that includes the U.S. contribution to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Preparatory Commission and the nation’s voluntary contribution to the International Atomic Energy Agency. This represents an almost $200 million decrease from the programs’ current funding level of $500.7 million.
Meanwhile, the president proposed $44.1 billion in funding for the Department of Homeland Security: a $2.8 billion increase over the currently enacted amount. Of that, the budget proposed $330.4 million for the department’s Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO), which received $352.5 million for 2017.
DNDO’s work to prevent radiological and nuclear terrorism includes the development of U.S. technical nuclear forensics capabilities, research and deployment of detection technologies, and support for the global nuclear detection architecture – for which it works alongside international partners through the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism.
The proposed DNDO budget includes $144.2 million for nuclear detection and forensics research and development for “break-through technologies that address identified gaps in the Global Nuclear Detection Architecture and Technical Nuclear Forensics and that have a positive impact on capabilities to prevent nuclear threats.” This is a moderate decrease from the $155.1 million the line item currently receives.
The budget also proposed $87.1 million for procurement, construction, and improvements – the account that funds procurement of radiation detection technologies deployed at U.S. ports of entry. Of this amount, $62.5 million would go toward procurement of large-scale radiation detection systems – sustaining the capability to scan inbound containerized cargo – and $24.6 million for human-portable radiation detection systems.
This account currently receives $101.1 million, with $53.7 million for large-scale and $47.3 million for human-portable systems. DNDO has deployed over 4,500 personal radiation detectors and 1,800 handheld radiation identification devices to DHS operational partners within U.S. borders.
