DHS Announces $1.7 Billion In Grants
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently announced final fiscal year 2007 Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP) awards totaling $1.7 billion, including a total of almost $411 million to the nation’s six urban areas at highest risk of a terrorist attack: New York City/Northern New Jersey; the National Capital Region; Los Angeles/Long Beach; the California Bay Area; Houston; and Chicago.
HSGP grants enhance the ability of states, territories and urban areas to prevent, protect against, respond to and recover from terrorist attacks and other disasters. Including this funding, by the end of fiscal year 2007, DHS will have invested $23 billion in local planning, organization, equipment, training, and exercises for state and local governments since September 11, 2001.
“HSGP is an important DHS funding mechanism for building and sustaining preparedness capabilities across the Nation,” said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. “Our goal is to effectively manage risk in a way that lessens the vulnerability of the entire country, while preparing the nation to respond effectively to major catastrophes. The department remains committed to directing resources to areas that are most at risk and to ensure that our state and local partners have the training, equipment, and resources they need to become better prepared.”
HSGP risk methodology considers a variety of factors, including intelligence assessments, population size and density, economic impacts, proximity to critical infrastructure and other factors critical to national security such as proximity to international borders. HSGP is comprised of five separate grant programs: Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI), State Homeland Security Program (SHSP), Law Enforcement Terrorism Prevention Program (LETPP), Metropolitan Medical Response System (MMRS), and Citizen Corps Program (CCP).
Funding was directly allocated in January for MMRS and CCP. Theannouncement outlines final competitively bid portions of these grants: SHSP, UASI and LETPP.
Final FY 2007 HSGP awards include:
- Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI): $746.9 million.
- State Homeland Security Program (SHSP): $509.3 million.
- Law Enforcement Terrorism Prevention Program (LETPP): $363.8 million.
The following programs receive formula allocations and were announced in January:
- Metropolitan Medical Response System (MMRS): $32 million.
- Citizen Corps Program: $14.6 million.
The HSGP involved extensive collaboration with state and local homeland security and emergency management officials. In addition, approximately 150 state and local homeland security officials reviewed HSGP investment justifications to assess the effectiveness of proposed investments in addressing identified homeland security needs.