Analysis of systems used to budget for Homeland Security

Abstract

In the fall of 2002, it was not clear how homeland security efforts would be organized and what budget process would be created. Subsequently the Department of Homeland Security was created and it moved to create and establish a PPB system similar to the system employed in DOD. This technical report examines DOD's experience with the PPB system over the last 40 years and provides lessons learned from that experience for consideration by DHS budget planners. The primary lesson is that the PPB system has always been in an evolutionary mode, with constant improvements along a generalized conceptual path. It was not created once and for all and operated as a fixed template. While it is an expensive system to operate in terms of people and time, no other system appears to solve the requirement for planning for and resourcing systems and personnel to meet the threat posed to U. S. homeland security.