Decision day for state homeland security grants
From the AP:
In the annual competition for counterterror funding, the Homeland Security Department wants the 46 cities receiving money this year to consider the other side of the coin: The aid means the government thinks they are terror targets.
Major urban areas will find out Wednesday how much they will share of a $740 million anti-terror grant. Three of them _ Memphis, Tenn., and Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, Fla. _ qualified for the list of eligible cities this year after being passed over in 2005.
Eleven others may be booted in 2007 based on a new Homeland Security formula the department says is based largely on intelligence and law enforcement data about terror threats and the possible consequences in each city.
….Money is scarce. The $740 million for cities is down from $855 million Congress provided for the cities’ counterterror efforts last year.
Since today’s high-risk city might be deemed more secure tomorrow, Henke held out hope for other urban areas seeking future terror funding.
“That information is ever-changing,” Henke said of the department’s threat analysis. “Therefore, that list is a fluid list. Just because you’re on it one year doesn’t mean you’ll be on it the next.”
The news about the grant allocations is supposed to be announced in the middle of the day; I’ll post an update then.
