Department of Homeland Security: Opportunities Exist to Better Evaluate and Coordinate Boarder and Maritime Research and Development in Bloomington, MN

Within DHS, three components have responsibilities for conducting border and maritime R&D-S&T, the Coast Guard, and DNDO. S&T has five technical divisions responsible for managing the directorate's R&D portfolio and coordinating with other DHS components to identify R&D priorities and needs. The Borders and Maritime Security Division (BMD) is responsible for most of S&T's border and maritime related R&D, and its primary DHS customer is CBP. Most of S&T's R&D portfolio consists of applied and developmental R&D, which is R&D that can be transitioned to use within 3 years, as opposed to longer-term basic research.11 In addition to conducting projects for its DHS customers, S&T conducts projects for other federal agencies and first responders.