The new chairman of the House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee hopes to mark up the Department of Homeland Security’s $60.8 billion fiscal year 2025 budget request by the end of May and with a goal of having the full committee consider the budget in June.
These timelines are subject to agreement by House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.), Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nevada), who heads the Homeland Security panel, said on Tuesday during a hearing to review the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) proposed budget.
TSA Administrator David Pekoske highlighted the dearth of funding for his key acquisition programs, computed tomography (CT) machines that scan carry-on bags at airport security checkpoints, and the credential authentication technology (CAT) devices that verify the identity of travelers at those checkpoints. The agency is seeking $90 million for the CT systems and $9 million for CAT, funding levels that will enable full operational capability in FY ’42 and FY ’49, respectively.
“We have the opportunity to accelerate both projects with additional investment,” Pekoske said. One way to accomplish this is to stop the diversion of the aviation security fee—amounting to $1.6 billion annually—that was intended for security technology purchases and other aviation security needs but instead is directed by Congress to go toward deficit reduction, he said.
TSA currently buys CT systems from Analogic, Integrated Defense & Security Solutions, and Smiths Detection. The CAT systems are supplied by IDEMIA.
Pekoske’s written statement said the agency needs 2,263 CT machines and 3,585 CAT devices to reach full operational capability. Deployments of CT systems, which provide a three-dimensional view of a bag’s contents for an operator and highlight potential explosive threats, are about 35 percent complete and 57 percent for CAT, the statement said.
A few years ago, Pekoske had hoped for about $300 million in annual CT spending, which would have enabled to the agency to achieve full deployment around 2028.
TSA has deployed a new detection algorithm on its advanced imaging technology (AIT) systems, which are the body scanners the agency uses for on-person screening of threats at airport security checkpoints, to reduce false alarms, increase accuracy, and reduce pat-downs of travelers, he said. Leidos [LDOS] is the primary supplier of AIT systems to TSA.