Program Authority

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Program Authority is a term of art and practice in the U.S. Government. It signifies controlling authority over a specific portion of the federal budget as proposed by the President and authorized and appropriated by Congress. Once allocated to the departments of government, the funds are assigned to specific program managers for obligation.

Within the National Foreign Intelligence Program, for example, there are programs established for each of the major disciplines (human, signals, and imagery intelligence) but not for Open Source Intelligence (OSINT).

Statutory program authority is assigned by legislation (federal or state) that defines the terms under which an element of the government may contract for goods and services, inclusive of the specific individual positions that shall have Program Authority over the authorized, appropriated, and allocated funds.