The Role of the Office of Homeland Security in the Federal Budget Process

How can the newly created Office of Homeland Security (OHS) engage effectively in the federal budget process? This report finds that OHS is uniquely poised to bring strategy and funding decisions together across departments and agencies; however, it must build on the foundation of its presidential imprimatur to do so. With the president's support, OHS can leverage its position in the administration by cultivating and managing its relationships with other homeland security institutions and their proponents. This report addresses key relationships within the executive branch and proposes a strategy for congressional outreach that identifies a core group of active committees. It also yields a road map with specific recommendations for OHS's budgetary role, highlighting the importance of establishing policy priorities and objectives early and formulating strategy and developing funding requests through a tightly coordinated interagency process. The report suggests that OHS focus on issues along the "seams" of homeland security policy, where departments' and agencies' jurisdictions gap or overlap. These findings are based on an analysis of expert opinion, institutional analogy, and congressional interest and involvement, as reflected in funding streams, committee hearings, and other legislative activity prior to and following September 11, 2001. The research for this report was initiated in December 2001 and completed in February 2002.