The Bush Administration's National Strategy for Homeland Securityidentified six critical mission areas to focus federal efforts onthe objectives of preventing terrorist attacks, reducing America'svulnerabilities to terrorism, and minimizing the damage andrecovering from attacks that do occur. An analysis of spendingpriorities suggests that most of the proposed major programs fallinto one of the six critical mission areas. It is not clear,however, that in every case the level of resources requested isadequate to meet the critical goals the Administration hasestablished in its strategy or that these efforts are appropriateto address future threats. In particular, while notable progresshas been made in virtually every critical mission area, shortfallsin maritime security top the list of concerns.
The Bush Administration's budget for fiscal year 2004 recommendsmajor changes at the U.S. Department of Justice. Among theAdministration's proposals are that hiring grants administered bythe Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) beeliminated in FY 2004 and that overall funding for COPS be reducedto retarget funding for more urgent priorities.
State and local first response agencies are at the forefront of thenation's ability to respond to terrorist acts. In fact, these localagencies will nearly always be the first to respond to an incidentand will be the determining factor in mitigating the consequencesof an attack.