By Laura DeKoven Waxman
May 30, 2011

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on May 19 released FY 2011 grant guidance and application kits for 16 DHS grant programs worth a total of $2.1 billion. The announcement notes that DHS grants were reduced by $780 million from the FY 2010 enacted level – about a quarter of FY 2010 grant funding. The reduced funding level generally is reflected in the allocations to states and local areas in various programs, although funds are not cut across-the-board by the same percentage below last year’s level.

The DHS release notes that consistent with 9/11 Commission recommendations, DHS grants now focus on the cities that continue to face the most significant threats, “while continuing to provide dedicated funding to law enforcement throughout the country to prepare for, prevent and respond to pre-operational activity and other crimes that are precursors or indicators of terrorist activity.”

Probably the most significant change this year is the elimination of funding to 33 of the 64 Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) jurisdictions that received funding last year. Fort Lauderdale (FL) was combined with the Miami area UASI and the rest (identified in the box by the central city of the urban area) were eliminated altogether.

Of the $662 million available this year to enhance regional preparedness and capabilities in high-threat, high-density areas, more than $540 million will go to the 11 highest risk (Tier I) areas, which is sufficient to fund these areas at the same level as last year. The remaining funds will go to 20 urban areas, designated Tier II; the allocations to these areas are cut about 30 percent below their FY 2010 funding level. The 9/11 Act requires states to dedicate 25 percent of UASI appropriated funds to law enforcement terrorism prevention-oriented activities.

Other DHS programs included in the announcement are:

• State Homeland Security Program (SHSP) – more than $526 million to support the implementation of state homeland security strategies to build and strengthen preparedness capabilities at all levels. The 9/11 Act requires states to dedicate 25 percent of SHSP appropriated funds to law enforcement terrorism prevention-oriented planning, organization, training, exercise and equipment activities.

• Operation Stonegarden – more than $54 million to enhance cooperation and coordination among federal, state, territorial, tribal and local law enforcement agencies to jointly enhance security along the United States land and water borders.

• Metropolitan Medical Response System Program (MMRS) – more than $34 million to enhance and sustain comprehensive regional mass casualty incident response and preparedness capabilities, divided evenly among 124 MMRS jurisdictions.

• Citizen Corps Program – more than $9 million to engage citizens in community preparedness, planning, mitigation, response and recovery activities.

• Tribal Homeland Security Grant Program – $10 million to eligible tribal applicants to implement preparedness initiatives to help strengthen the nation against risk associated with potential terrorist attacks and other hazards.

• Nonprofit Security Grant Program – more than $18 million to support target-hardening activities at non-profit organizations at high risk of a terrorist attack and located within one of the FY2011 UASI-eligible urban areas.

• Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program – more than $14 million to enhance catastrophic incident preparedness in high-risk, high-consequence urban areas and their surrounding regions and support coordination of regional all-hazard planning for catastrophic events, including the development of plans, protocols and procedures to manage regional planning for terrorist attacks and other catastrophic events.

• Transit Security Grant Program – more than $200 million to owners and operators of transit systems (including intracity bus, commuter bus, ferries, and all forms of passenger rail) to protect critical surface transportation and increase the resilience of transit infrastructure. In a departure from the past, these funds are no longer allocated to specific jurisdictions and will be awarded through a competitive process.

• Freight Rail Security Grant Program – $10 million to freight railroad carriers and owners and offerors of railroad cars to protect critical surface transportation infrastructure from acts of terrorism and increase the resilience of the freight rail system.

• Intercity Passenger Rail (Amtrak) Program – more than $19 million to protect critical surface transportation infrastructure and the traveling public from terrorism and increase the resilience of the Amtrak rail system.

• Intercity Bus Security Grant Program – more than $4 million to support security measures including plans, facility security upgrades and vehicle and driver protection for fixed-route intercity and charter bus services that serve UASI jurisdictions.

• Port Security Grant Program – more than $235 million to help protect critical port infrastructure from terrorism, enhance maritime domain awareness and strengthen risk management capabilities in order to protect against improvised explosive devices and other non-conventional weapons.

• Emergency Operations Center Grant Program – more than $14 million to support the construction or renovation of Emergency Operations Centers to improve state, local or tribal emergency management and preparedness capabilities to ensure continuity of operations during disasters.

• Driver’s License Security Grant Program – more than $44 million to help states and territories improve security of state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards in order to prevent terrorism, reduce fraud and enhance the reliability and accuracy of personal identification documents.

• Emergency Management Performance Grants Program – more than $329 million to assist state and local governments in enhancing and sustaining all-hazards emergency management capabilities.