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The Defense Security Cooperation Agency has seen a drastic increase in foreign military sales in recent years, fueled by the increasingly complex geopolitical landscape. According to DSCA Director Mike Miller, the agency has seen an “unprecedented surge” in demand for FMS.

In a keynote address at the Potomac Officers Club’s GovCon International Summit on Oct. 10, Miller gave an overview of the agency’s FMS initiatives and the recent implementation of strategic programs.

Miller described FMS as a vital component in bolstering global defense.

“Foreign military sales are a key tool of U.S. national security and foreign policy, and we play an indispensable role in administering this program,” Miller said.

The recent surge of foreign military challenges has only increased the need for security cooperation between international allies and partners. As a result, the DSCA has seen a rise in FMS investments throughout recent years.

“We executed an unprecedentedly high number of foreign military sales, to the tune of almost $81 billion that went through the U.S. foreign military sales system, including $62.5 billion in sales that were financed by our foreign partners — the rest being financed by DOD and State Department security assistance authorities,” Miller stated. “What that meant for us at the DSCA in terms of oversight implementation was nearly 16,000 separate FMS cases under work with an open case value of three-quarters of a trillion dollars.” 

Miller continued to speak on recent initiatives, including the DSCA’s alignment with the National Defense Strategy in part of the agency’s Strategic Plan for 2025. With this plan, Miller said the DSCA aims to “break down barriers in cooperation with partners and allies, and further incorporate ally partner perspectives, competencies and advantages at every stage of defense planning in order to include and better address their most pressing requirements.”

“That in turn, advances our defense and foreign policy interests, which are increasingly important this year in the Great Power Competition,” he added.

The DSCA has recently implemented FMS reforms to improve processes and deliver capabilities to partners and allies.

“How we bring additional technology and options forward to our partners — there’s a range of exciting work there, it’s diffuse,” Miller emphasized. “You’ve got things going out to the [Defense Innovation Unit], you’ve got things going out to combat commands, you’ve got things going out to the industry. You’ve got various programs of incentivization to bring forward new technologies into the DOD and hopefully by extension to our partners. So that’s very exciting.”

Miller also discussed recent advancements in AUKUS, a trilateral security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. 

“With AUKUS, we’ve set an ambitious mission to strengthen the industrial capacities of our three democracies. This represents a generational opportunity to enhance capabilities, improve interoperability and strengthen integrated deterrence to grow and maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Miller said.

You can learn more about how the U.S. is working alongside global allies to face national security challenges ahead at the 2024 Homeland Security Summit on Nov. 13. Secure your spot at the 2024 Homeland Security Summit to gain insights from the leading defense researchers at the event.

Anchored at $107.9 billion, the Department of Homeland Security’s fiscal year 2025 budget request represents a $4.5 billion increase over its FY 2024 request. With these allocations, which include $62.2 billion in discretionary funding, DHS aims to rise to evolving homeland security challenges shaped by new technologies and other shifts in today’s national security environment.

Hear directly from DHS decision makers about their top budget priorities at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Homeland Security Summit on Nov. 13. During the event, public and private sector representatives will offer their expertise on the nation’s top homeland security objectives in keynote speeches, panel discussions and periodic networking sessions. Join the conversation at the 2024 Homeland Security Summit.

DHS has a broad range of responsibilities, from border security to disaster relief. Find out how the new budget will advance the department’s most critical missions below.

Key Funding Priorities

Border Security

Over the past year, border security efforts have gained bipartisan support, and in October 2023, DHS asked for additional funding to support these initiatives. The FY25 budget request brought this inquiry back into the spotlight, highlighting the $11.8 billion that was sought to advance border security goals, including immigration enforcement, talent acquisition and drug detection.

The FY25 request also adds $25.9 billion for Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to increase border security and enforce immigration law.

Cybersecurity

Agencies across the U.S. government have sharpened their focus on cybersecurity, and DHS’ Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is a key contributor to public sector efforts to strengthen the nation’s cyber defenses. DHS’ 2025 budget request calls attention to the importance of cybersecurity risks and emphasizes the need to properly fund CISA and relevant cybersecurity programs.

Artificial Intelligence

As agencies press forward with the adoption of AI, DHS wants to ensure that these tools are developed and deployed responsibly. The FY25 budget request hopes to help DHS “lay the foundation to responsibly leverage AI and machine learning to support our missions” and develop “mitigation tools and strategies to combat the risks AI poses to homeland security.”

Part of doing so includes the establishment of an AI office within DHS’ Office of the Chief Information Officer dedicated to driving these goals forward and oversee AI efforts across the department.

Major DHS Agency Budgets

Customs and Border Protection

Properly funding CBP is a key part of DHS’ border security mission. The department’s 2025 budget request allocates $19.7 billion to the agency, which is intended to support the four mission areas laid out in its strategy for 2024 to 2028:

• Securing the border
• Supporting national security and contingency operations
• Facilitating lawful travel
• Facilitating lawful trade and protect revenue

Of these funds, $15.9 billion is reserved for operations and support, and $272.9 million is dedicated to procurement, construction and other improvements. Top funding areas include border staffing and border equipment modernization as well as trade and travel enforcement facilitation. The budget also covers a variety of technology modernization efforts, some of which are:

• Upgrading integrated surveillance towers
• Funding two new light helicopters and related training needs
• Improving aircraft sensors

Transportation Security Administration

The Transportation Security Administration’s budget request totals $11.8 billion and is designed to address continued passenger volume growth, which averaged at a rate of 4.5 percent between 2014 and 2019. The request reserves $365 million to account for the increased number of travelers and sets aside additional funding for associate technology areas, including:

• Checkpoint property screening systems
• Equipment sustainment
• Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency

CISA’s mission to “lead the national effort to understand, manage and reduce risk to the cyber and physical infrastructure Americans rely on every day” has become increasingly important as government IT systems migrate to the digital space. To achieve its objectives, the agency is focused on four key areas:

• Cyber defense
• Risk reduction and resilience
• Operational collaboration
• Agency unification

DHS’ 2025 budget request allocates CISA $3 billion to advance these goals. The $1.7 billion of these funds set aside for cybersecurity represents the largest portion of the agency’s budget and supports technology deployment, continuous diagnostics and mitigation and the Joint Collaborative Environment, a program designed to build partnerships with industry. Additional CISA budget areas include:

• Infrastructure security
• Emergency communications
• Integrated operations
• Risk management operations
• Stakeholder engagement

Federal Emergency Management Agency

Allocations to the Federal Emergency Management Agency represent the largest portion of DHS’ budget request, accounting for 31 percent of the department’s budget demands. Of the $33 billion set aside for the agency, $22 billion is dedicated to its disaster relief fund, which is used to carry out federal responses to major disasters. ExecutiveGov, a sister publication of GovCon Wire, broke down FEMA’s budget in an exploration of the agency’s top priorities.

Additional Agencies

CBP, TSA, CISA and FEMA are not the only agencies driving DHS missions forward. The remaining portion of the department’s budget request includes:

• $13.8 billion for the U.S. Coast Guard
• $9.7 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement
• $6.8 billion for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
• $4 billion for the DHS Management Directorate

Don’t wait to learn more about DHS’ budget priorities! Secure your spot at the 2024 Homeland Security Summit to get expert insights into the department’s most important objectives.

President Joe Biden announced he intends to appoint several individuals to serve in a Department of State commission and two federal boards.

The new appointments include four new members to serve the State Department’s Commission on Reform and Modernization, eight members to the National Science Board and a lone addition to the National Cancer Advisory Board, the White House said Tuesday.

Chosen for the commissioner roles were Michael Guest, Pamela Spratlen, Caroline Tess, and Ricardo Zuniga. They will work with other panel members to advise the president and Congress on helping the State Department address the modern challenges of diplomacy.

Meanwhile, Biden’s appointees to the NSB include Joan Ferrini-Mundy, Yolanda Gil, Juan Gilbert, Jeffrey Isaacson, Willie May, Alondra Nelson, Sarah O’Donnell and Ryan Panchadsaram. They will support the National Science Foundation’s mission of promoting research and education in science and engineering.

The White House selected Kimberly Stegmaier to join the NCAB, which assists the National Cancer Institute in implementing the national cancer research program. The board also supports the government’s research and development initiatives to prevent, detect and treat cancer.

The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration has released a blueprint outlining its 25-year plan to modernize the Nuclear Security Enterprise, or NSE.

Priorities under the Enterprise Blueprint include investing in the production and science infrastructure supporting weapons design, manufacture, certification and assessment; reestablishing eliminated capabilities; replacing old buildings; and meeting modern safety, security and environmental standards, the NNSA said Tuesday.

The investments will initially focus on sustaining the current nuclear stockpile and restoring production capabilities for modernizing weapons, with the NSE scientific base, global security and naval nuclear propulsion as the next priorities.

U.S. Nuclear Deterrence

The NSE comprises DOE laboratories, the Nevada National Security Site, production plants, and processing facilities involved in the design, production and testing of nuclear weapons. While the enterprise served its purpose during the Manhattan Project, Cold War and post-Cold War eras, the NSE believes assets must be modernized to keep pace with the current geopolitical and technological changes that require increased capability and capacity to maintain the U.S. nuclear deterrence.

According to Jill Hruby, DOE undersecretary for Nuclear Security and NNSA administrator, the blueprint offers a roadmap to meet current and future mission demands and effectively address nuclear security.

A team headed by Purdue University has been selected for a project to enhance artificial intelligence hardware through the Microelectronics Commons program in partnership with the Silicon Crossroads Microelectronics Commons Hub.

Purdue said Monday its CHEETA: CMOS+MRAM Hardware for Energy-EfficienT AI project, one of four awardees announced on Sept. 18, aims to make AI hardware more energy efficient and the sensor-to-decision response time faster. This development will enhance the “size, weight and power” metrics, which are expected to support defense initiatives.

The project intends to utilize CMOS+X and magnetic random-access memory, or MRAM, to develop efficient in-memory computing hardware fabrics.

The team will receive $21 million for over four years from the Applied Research Institute to fund the project. It is made up of faculty members from the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and collaborating partners Northrop Grumman, Everspin Technologies, Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Georgia Institute of Technology and University of Michigan.

Purdue President Mung Chiang, stated, “Purdue is strongly committed to supporting the CHIPS Act and the U.S. DOD’s ME Commons program, enhancing economic prosperity to the Silicon Heartland and national security of the U.S.”

Karen Plaut, executive vice president for research at Purdue, emphasized that the collaboration will enhance defense technologies and boost the nation’s leadership in advancing critical technologies.

“By uniting the strengths of our partnerships with Argonne National labs, NSWC Crane as well as government agencies, leading industry partners and top academic institutions, we are embarking on a groundbreaking project that will push the boundaries of semiconductor innovation,” Plaut said.