DHS Science and Technology Directorate


The Science and Technology Directorate is a component within the United States Department of Homeland Security. DHS-S&T serves as the research and development arm of the Department as it fulfills its national security mission.
The Science and Technology Directorate is led by the Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Science and Technology, who is appointed by the President of the United States with confirmation by the United States Senate. William N. Bryan is the acting Under Secretary.

Initiatives and programs

The Under Secretary for Homeland Security Science and Technology currently administers a number of publicly available programs to promote independent development of homeland security technologies.
SAFECOM is the Federal umbrella program designed to foster interoperability among the Nation’s public safety practitioners, so that they may communicate across disciplines and jurisdictions during an emergency.
SAFETY Act provides liability protections that make it feasible for sellers of qualified antiterrorism technologies to introduce homeland security solutions to the marketplace
Homeland Open Security Technology is a five-year, $10 million program to promote the creation and use of open security and open-source software in the United States government and military. In October 2011, the directorate won the Open Source for America 2011 Government Deployment Open Source Award for the program.

Budget