5. Department of Homeland Security · Notable · Needs Congress

Move S&T to DOD and the Countering WMD Office to the FBI

Not started

Printed page 134 5. Department of Homeland Security

“The Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) be moved to DOD and the Office of Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction be moved to the FBI.”

What has happened

Apr 30, 2026 Not started
Neither directorate has moved. The FY2026 DHS appropriation keeps both inside the department — $352.8 million for the Science and Technology Directorate and program-by-program funding for the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office — and section 513 of the same act bars DHS from using its section 872 reorganization authority at all without new legislation, allowing only the reallocation of CWMD functions to other offices within DHS. No transfer bill was introduced.
- Public Law 119-86, Homeland Security and Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Act, 2026, enrolled text
  Primary Congress Apr 30, 2026

Research log

What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence

Research notes

Instrument sought: a statute transferring the Science and Technology Directorate to DOD and the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office to the FBI, or a DHS reorganization under section 872 of the Homeland Security Act.

Searched, in records current to 2026-08-28: presidential documents, final rules, proposed rules and notices in the Federal Register from DHS and its components; bills and public laws in Congress, from congress.gov; White House presidential actions; and federal court dockets (CourtListener), including the bulk snapshot of 1.2 million dockets. No bill transferring S&T or CWMD out of DHS was found; no reorganization notice was published.

Congress moved the other way twice in one act: Public Law 119-86 appropriates $352,802,000 to the Science and Technology Directorate and funds the CWMD Office’s programs inside DHS, and its section 513 forbids spending any of the Act’s money to carry out section 872 reorganization authority “unless explicitly authorized by the Congress”, with a narrow carve-out only for moving CWMD functions within the department.

Action: transfer
Object: Science and Technology Directorate and Office of Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction
ID: 277