In a memo sent to S&T staff last week and obtained by Nextgov/FCW, titled “Termination of the Centers of Excellence,” DHS leadership called for cutting all S&T financial assistance. S&T’s Centers of Excellence program is a collaborative research effort composed of nine centers that pairs government resources with colleges and universities. The letter was signed by DHS Acting Undersecretary Julie Brewer and sent to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
As justification for terminating the COEs, the memo cited a risk of “potential misalignment with current strategic priorities” and conflict with new departmental guidance.
“The purpose of this memorandum is to request your approval to terminate all current and pending grants and cooperative agreements administered by the Science and Technology Directorate, including all Centers of Excellence cooperative agreements and any other S&T grants managed through the DHS grants and Financial Assistance Division,” the memo said.
That request for approval was granted, the two sources familiar told Nextgov/FCW.
The COE program focused on topics like agency operational efficiency, cross-boarder threat screenings, critical infrastructure resiliency and counterterrorism analysis and education.
Along with the COEs, other S&T programming — such as the Scientific Leadership Awards; social and behavioral science grants; and cooperative agreements with Minority Serving Institutions — were also terminated, the first person familiar confirmed. The total dollar amount of grant funding cut for the latter three programs comes at approximately $17.6 milli ..
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