FY 2004 Budget Fact Sheet
Aviation Security
Of nearly $4.6 billion in Transportation Security Administration (TSA) funding, specific programs include:
* $150 million to purchase explosives detection systems.
* $250 million to install these systems in airports.
Another $85 million is allocated to improve air cargo security, including:
* $30 million to enable TSA to improve its oversight of the known shipper program, using a risk-weighted freight screening system that will identify pieces of cargo that require closer scrutiny before being loaded on passenger aircraft. Funds will also enable TSA to hire an additional 100 staff to perform more in-depth audits of shipper compliance with the known shipper requirement.
* $55 million to be used by TSA’s Research and Development to pursue a variety of technological solutions that would allow for the most efficient and targeted inspections of cargo carried on passenger aircraft.
Port Security
$14 million for the “Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT)” that will more than double the number of the Department’s partnerships with foreign manufacturers and importers. These partners agree to meet “supply chain” standards ensuring that their shipment methods repel potential terrorist attempts to use those shipments for introducing weapons of mass destruction into our ports.
* C-TPAT will add nearly 160 more supply chain security experts to provide training and technical assistance to those partners, who will benefit from the increased level of trust by experiencing fewer port inspections and shorter wait times.
* $62 million for the Container Security Initiative (CSI), to deploy teams of inspectors, special agents, and intelligence analysts to 20 foreign “mega-ports” and approximately 10 other strategic ports to inspect containerized cargo for weapons of mass destruction before it is ever shipped to the United States.
* $64 million will support technology for non-intrusive inspection (NII). This will add to a variety of port inspection assets supported from prior year funding, including radiation detection systems, large scale x-ray machines for trucks and oceangoing shipping containers, mobile vehicle and cargo inspection systems (VACIS), and isotope identifiers for international mail and express courier hubs. The advantage to importers whose cargo warrants increased inspection will be more efficient, timely, and less costly inspections than the alternative of physical removal of cargo from a conveyance.
* $125 million for port security grants that fund security planning and projects to improve dockside and perimeter security at the nation’s ports. These funds represent the latest round of grants awarded to state and local governments and private companies that contribute to important security upgrades like new patrol boats in the harbor, surveillance equipment at roads and bridges, and the construction of new command and control facilities.
Border Security and Immigration Enforcement
* $41 million for up to 570 additional Border Patrol Agents.
* $35.2 million for an air surveillance wing on the Northern Border, of which $12.8 million is for the purchase of aircraft.
* $6.7 million for 51 more Special Agents in the Compliance Enforcement Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Office of Investigations. These agents will follow up on “overstays” identified by the US VISIT, SEVIS and NSEERS databases.
