Combating Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction

Proliferation-related Budget Sub-functionRecommendation 3.1: The Director of the Office of Management and Budget(OMB) should create a separate National Defense budget sub-function forproliferation-related programs and activities in the President’s budget.The Commission determined that the most effective way to identify and manageproliferation-related activities would be to create a separate budget sub-function in theNational Defense function (050) for these programs.Budget sub-functions are usually established to identify a coherent set of activities that,while scattered among different agencies, should for policy purposes be considered as awhole. For example, there is a budget sub-function for the defense-related activities in theDepartment of Energy (sub-function 053).Creation of a proliferation sub-function will identify the funds dedicated to combatingthis threat and is an essential first step in coordinating our proliferation-related programsand activities. It would not alter existing congressional authorization or appropriationsresponsibilities for proliferation-related programs, although later in this section theCommission makes a recommendation for improving congressional consideration ofthese issues.The Commission recognizes that determining which activities fall within this budget will, insome instances, be difficult. Nevertheless, it is well worth doing to provide a mechanismfor managing this critical area of activities. (Appendix G illustrates a process by whichgovernment officials might construct a useful 05x proliferation budget sub-function.)Building the Proliferation-related BudgetRecommendation 3.2: The National Director and the Director of OMB shouldjointly direct an annual proliferation-related budget-building and review processwith the departments and agencies.The National Director and the Combating Proliferation Council (CPC) should test the fitbetween administration policy and program aims and the various agency programs andactivities, using the budgetary cross-cut undertaken in the establishment of the 05xaccount as a baseline. The National Director should provide each agency with his or herpolicy guidance early in the budget process, so that the agencies can fit their planning intothe framework of overall priorities. This means, of course, that the National Director and20