Summary

Combating Terrorism: Observations on Federal Spending to Combat Terrorism

T-NSIAD/GGD-99-107  March 11, 1999

Full Report (PDF, 20 pages)   

Although key federal agencies spent about $6.7 billion in fiscal year 1997 on unclassified activities and programs to combat terrorism, a December 1997 GAO report (GAO/NSIAD-98-39) found that precise funding information was unavailable. That report resulted in legislation requiring the Office and Management and Budget (OMB) to establish a system for collecting and reporting information on agencies' spending and budgets for combating terrorism. OMB's most recent report identified $10 billion set aside in the fiscal year 2000 budget for programs to combat terrorism. This testimony (1) briefly discusses the foreign-origin and domestic terrorism threat as GAO understands it from intelligence analyses, (2) provides overall observations on program growth and other issues raised by GAO's work in this area, and (3) examines steps that the executive branch has taken to improve crosscutting management and coordination and provides preliminary observations on the 1998 and 1999 OMB reports to Congress on governmentwide spending and budgeting to combat terrorism.

Subject Terms

Biological weapons
Budget administration
Budget outlays
Counterterrorism
Crime prevention
Domestic intelligence
Emergency preparedness
Homeland security
Interagency relations
Strategic planning
Combating terrorism
Terrorists
Nunn-Lugar-Domenici Domestic Preparedness Program