Two Homeland Security programs are in danger of disappearing at the beginning of February if Congress fails to pass funding, adding to a long list of entities and departments tied to a government shutdown.
One of the programs is responsible for detecting nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, and the other helps counter drones flying illegally in United States airspace. Department of Homeland Security officials told NBC News that the programs are not controversial, unlike many whose funds are up for debate, but they are still tied to budget negotiations that can come down to the final hour or even play into government shutdowns.
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Congress passed a continuing resolution on Nov. 15 that extended funding for the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Energy, Veterans Affairs, and Agriculture departments through Jan. 19 and extended funding for the rest of the government until Feb. 2.
If the House cannot pass its appropriations bill by Feb. 2 or the DHS programs' authority runs out, DHS officials said national security in the U.S. would be "diminished significantly."
Under a law passed in 2018, DHS’s Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office is set to expire at the end of 2023. The office was formed to help the department detect weapons and send scanning equipment to state and local law enforcement. Without funding, DHS could not create new scanning mechanisms, send security teams to large events, and train law enforcement — leaving a hole in the federal government, as these powers only exist within that office.
DHS Assistant Secretary Mary Ellen Callahan, who runs the office, told NBC that Congress would have to write nearly a dozen laws to restore those powers to the agencies that held them before 2018, such as Customs and Border Protection and the Transportation Security Administration.
“The ability to detect chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats would be diminished significantly,” Callahan said.
The Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office was set to expire on Dec. 21, but after the continuing resolution passed in November, it will remain funded until Feb. 2. Callahan said the office is already suffering from significant staff departures, with many scientists leaving and workforce reduction up from 2-3% annually to 10% in 2023.
Planning for popular events such as the Super Bowl, which takes 18 months, will be much more difficult if the office ceases to exist.
Callahan said that without her office, existing equipment will not be updated with new technology, eventually rendering them insufficient as new threats emerge and the equipment is damaged or outdated.
Defunding the other program that helps bring down drones that illegally fly in U.S. airspace could have significant consequences, Assistant Secretary for Counterterrorism and Threat Prevention Samantha Vinograd said. Drones have disrupted everything from college football games to flights, which she said demonstrates the need for the office.
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It is also important because it extends its authority to the Border Patrol, for example, to help bring down drones flying fentanyl over the U.S.-Mexico border.
“If the (continuing resolution budget agreement) expires, if we don’t have some other renewal, all of that sunsets,” Vinograd said. “So when we were about to have a government shutdown, we weren’t just shutting down the government, we were at risk of losing all of our (countering drone) technology.”