DHS Directorate of Science and Technology : Key Issues for Congress / Dana A. Shea, Daniel Morgan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Shea, Dana A., author.

Morgan, Daniel, author.

Series:

CRS report for Congress ; RL34356.

CRS report for Congress ; RL34356

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

National security--Technological innovations--United States.

National security.

United States. Department of Homeland Security. Science and Technology Directorate.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (52 pages) : illustrations.

Place of Publication:

Washington, D.C. : Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, 2009.

Summary:

The Directorate of Science and Technology is the primary organization for research and development (R & D) in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In the past, some Members of Congress and other observers have been highly critical of the directorate's performance. Although management changes have somewhat muted this criticism in recent years, fundamental issues remain. Among these are: the allocation of R & D funding within the directorate's programs, including the balance among basic research, applied research, and development and the proportion of funds allocated to government, industry, and academia; how the directorate sets priorities, including its use of strategic planning documents, its system of Integrated Product Teams, and the extent to which it bases priorities on risk assessment; the nature and effectiveness of the directorate's relationships with other federal R & D organizations, such as the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, other organizations inside DHS, the Department of Energy national laboratories, and other agencies; the definition of the directorate's mission, such as identification of its customers, the scope of its R & D role within DHS, and the extent of its non-R & D missions; the directorate's budgeting and financial management, including the quality of its budget documents and the persistence of unobligated balances; the directorate's responsiveness to Congress; and the establishment of metrics and goals for evaluating the directorate's output.

Contents:

Introduction

Mission, organization, and assets

Cross-cutting policy issues

Overview of legislation in the 111th Congress.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.