S 1429 Introduced – FY 2014 DOD Spending

As I noted in an earlier post Sen. Durbin (D,IL) introduced S 1429, Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2014. The bill was reported favorably by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Cybersecurity Spending

As expected, there was no specific mention of cybersecurity programs in the actual bill, spending levels still have not reached that kind of level. The Committee Report does, however, contain a number of cybersecurity related line items.

Under the Air Force RDT&E spending (pg 166) the following line items are listed:

                                                                        Requested    Recommended

169 Cyber Command Activities                     68,099,000    38,099,000

170 AF Offensive Cyberspace Operations     14,047,000    14,047,000 

171 AF Defensive Cyberspace Operations       5,853,000      5,853,000 

191 Cyber Security Initiative                             2,048,000      2,048,000

192 DOD Cyber Crime Center                            288,000         288,000

The $30 million reduction for Cyber Command Activities was recommended by the Committee. They suggested that this could be achieved by improving “fund management” and “forward financing” (pg 169) without adversely impacting program performance.

Under DOD wide RDT&E spending (pgs 173 – 176) the following cyber items are listed:

                                                                        Requested    Recommended

045 Cyber Security Advanced Research        19,668,000   19,668,000  

116 Cyber Security Initiative                               946,000        946,000  

220 Cyber Security Initiative                            3,658,000     3,658,000   

221 Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP)      9,752,000     9,752,000  

There is no explanation given why there are three different line items for “Cyber Security Initiative”. It could be three different programs or a single program with three different funding sources. It would also help if these spending items were all grouped together, it would make cyber program tracking much easier.

No Program Comments

There are no program comments on cyber-programs in the Committee Report, a departure from the practice of recent years. What is surprising is the lack of reports about cyber issues; these have become a fixture of DOD appropriations bills. It is hard to tell if this is because the Committee is completely satisfied with current program performance (unlikely) or that cybersecurity matters have fallen below the observational threshold. A more likely possibility is that, because of the NSA monitoring controversy, the Committee is trying to avoid any discussion of cybersecurity, hoping that the bill won’t stir up any NSA discussion; a highly unlikely outcome.