On February 12, 2018, President Trump released a budget proposal for fiscal year 2019 that includes requests for cybersecurity-related funding for the Department of Defense (“DOD”), Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”), Department of Energy (“DOE”), Department of Justice, and Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”). The budget proposal also previews President Trump’s Management Agenda, to be announced in March, which identifies information technology (“IT”) modernization as one of a few key drivers of reform.

Cybersecurity-related funding requests identified by the budget proposal include:

• $8 billion, out of a total of $686 billion requested for DOD, to support “DOD’s three primary cyber missions: safeguarding DOD’s networks, information, and systems; supporting military commander objectives; and defending the Nation.”
• $1 billion in funding to support DHS cybersecurity programs which include DHS’s ongoing efforts “to share cybersecurity information with State, local, and tribal governments, as well as with international partners and the private sector.” The budget proposal notes that DHS plays an important role in combating cyberattacks and protecting critical infrastructure.
• $95 million in DOE funding for the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response that has a “focus on early-stage activities that improve cybersecurity and resilience to harden and evolve critical grid infrastructure.” According to the budget proposal, those activities “include early-stage R&D at national laboratories to develop the next generation of cybersecurity control systems, components, and devices including a greater ability to share time-critical data with industry to detect, prevent, and recover from cyber events.”
• An increase of $148 million for the FBI to support its activities which include fighting cyber-based attacks and high-technology crimes.
• $25 million for Treasury to protect its most critical IT assets against cybersecurity threats.

In previewing specific efforts under the Management Agenda that will be announced in March, the budget proposal notes that “[a]lthough the Federal Government spends roughly $90 billion annually on IT, these systems remain outdated and poorly protected” and identifies goals to “increase the use of modern technologies, retire highly insecure and outdated systems,” and improve the Trump administration’s “ability to identify and combat cybersecurity risks to agencies’ data, systems, and networks.”