Within DHS S&T a Program Executive Office (PEO) is an S&T-managed program office that consolidates and leads technology portfolios—coordinating R&D, test & evaluation, operational assessments, and transition-to-operations for a mission area. PEOs act as S&T’s focal point for advising on policy, conducting technical assessments, managing technical investments and test programs, and liaising with DHS Components and interagency partners; they support but do not replace component acquisition authorities (they help evaluate and transition technologies and inform procurements).
“Safeguarding our skies” refers broadly to aviation and airspace security including counter‑UAS (detect/track/identify/mitigate hostile drones), airspace monitoring/traffic management, protecting critical venues and events, and improving airborne sensing for DHS missions (law enforcement, border and infrastructure protection).
Emergency response power capabilities are technologies and systems that provide resilient, on‑scene or local electrical power for first responders and critical operations during outages (portable generators, microgrids, vehicle‑mounted power, resilient fuel/energy logistics and rapid‑deploy power systems). S&T supports them by researching requirements, testing and evaluating commercial solutions, funding prototypes, developing standards and transition pathways to DHS Components and state/local partners.
RDT&E means Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation: an end‑to‑end process that moves concepts from funded research through development into controlled testing and operational evaluation to produce fieldable capabilities. It differs from “regular research” by including development, formal test & evaluation and transition steps (not just basic or applied research) and differs from pure procurement because it creates and matures technologies before acquisition decisions rather than only buying off‑the‑shelf items.
S&T coordinates with DHS Components and other federal partners through Integrated Product Teams, Program Executive Offices, formal R&D coordination processes, test & evaluation at S&T labs/centers, FFRDCs and by producing advisory products and transition support; components retain acquisition authority but S&T provides requirements definition, technical assessments, T&E results, and transition facilitation for deployments.
Pedro M. Allende is the confirmed Under Secretary for Science and Technology at DHS (joined December 2025). Prior roles described by DHS: he leads S&T as the Department’s R&D head and science advisor to the Secretary. (The DHS page summarizes his current appointment; detailed prior DHS/private‑sector biography was not provided in the article excerpt.)
S&T uses structured Test & Evaluation (T&E) and Technical Assessments—run through its Test & Evaluation offices, National and S&T testbeds (e.g., National Urban Security Technology Laboratory), FFRDC support, and operational trials with Components—to certify or validate performance before frontline adoption; final procurement/certification often depends on Component acquisition rules and standards.
The DHS article announces S&T will establish two new Program Executive Offices but does not give a firm date. Other DHS releases (Jan 12, 2026) show a PEO for UAS/C‑UAS already formed; initial milestones typically include setting requirements, finalizing investment decisions, funding initial procurements or demonstrations, and fielding technologies for near‑term events (e.g., America250 and FIFA 2026). The exact formal establishment date and milestones for these specific new PEOs were not provided in available public sources.