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U.S. boosts homeland security budget in 2005

President Bush signs the 2005 budget for funding the Department of Homeland Security, allocating some $40.7 billion to that agency, an increase of 6.6 percent over 2004.

Robert Lemos Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Robert Lemos
covers viruses, worms and other security threats.
Robert Lemos

The numbers are in, and they're big.

This week, President Bush signed the 2005 budget for funding the Department of Homeland Security, allocating some $40.7 billion to that agency, an increase of 6.6 percent over 2004.

The DHS's Science and Technology Directorate will get a 20 percent boost in pocket money, to some $1.1 billion. Almost half of the money will be spend on research and development of technologies that counter chemical, biological and radiological weapons. The United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) Program will received $340 million to deploy technology aimed at tracking people coming into the U.S. The Container Security Initiative, which aims to track cargo, will get nearly $2.9 billion. Another $475 million will go to the Transportation Security Administration for explosives detection equipment.

Overall the picture has not changed a great deal from the allocations that CNET News.com covered in our Digital Agenda series this week. While the budget has increased funds for specific urban areas based on threat levels, and not arbitrary formulas (a remedy also advocated in the series), it is unclear whether administration and oversight of the funds will improve.