On Tuesday, December 8th, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will release grant guidance for numerous programs, including the Urban Areas Security Initiative, (UASI), State Homeland Security Program, (SHSP), Port Security Grant Program, (PSGP) and many more amounting to roughly $2 billion in homeland security funding for states, large urban areas, ports and other recipients. This will kick off a process lasting several months whereby those recipients will put forward projects they would like to see funded with that money. As in years past, one of the most anticipated elements of Tuesday’s roll out will be which cities/urban areas are on the UASI list.
The UASI funds address the unique planning, operational, equipment, training, and exercise needs of high threat, high density urban areas, such as New York, Los Angeles and Washington, DC, and assists them in building a capacity to prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from threats and acts of terrorism. Since its inception in 2003, the UASI list of jurisdictions eligible for funding has never stayed the same. Cities have been added, merged and/or dropped in each grant cycle. The program began with $100 million and seven cities in 2003 and had $800 million and sixty two jurisdictions last year.
Changes in the UASI list are due largely to the fact that the congressionally mandated terrorism risk based formula, which looks at threats, the vulnerabilities of a jurisdiction and the consequences of an attack, used to determine who is eligible for funding has been altered in its make-up and application each year. This hardly creates stability in the program and for those who participate in it. As one who oversaw the first three years of the program and its formula, I’m guilty as anyone on this issue, but I, and my colleagues at the time, had an excuse: no one had ever done anything like the UASI program and its formula before and we were learning as we built the program from scratch.
Today, the rational for major changes in eligibility for funding under UASI are all but gone, especially when it comes to removing jurisdictions from the list. As for adding new jurisdictions, I would advise DHS to do so with caution and with an eye toward determining what level of long term funding will be made available as the work that goes into standing up the UASI program and managing it at the local level is enormous. To do so for one grant cycle, only to be cut off next year, will be difficult for all involved. Finally, for those who remain stuck in the purgatory of having once been on the list but are now off, Tuesday may be filled with anticipation, hope and ultimately joy or disappointment. Good luck Omaha.
The UASI funds address the unique planning, operational, equipment, training, and exercise needs of high threat, high density urban areas, such as New York, Los Angeles and Washington, DC, and assists them in building a capacity to prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from threats and acts of terrorism. Since its inception in 2003, the UASI list of jurisdictions eligible for funding has never stayed the same. Cities have been added, merged and/or dropped in each grant cycle. The program began with $100 million and seven cities in 2003 and had $800 million and sixty two jurisdictions last year.
Changes in the UASI list are due largely to the fact that the congressionally mandated terrorism risk based formula, which looks at threats, the vulnerabilities of a jurisdiction and the consequences of an attack, used to determine who is eligible for funding has been altered in its make-up and application each year. This hardly creates stability in the program and for those who participate in it. As one who oversaw the first three years of the program and its formula, I’m guilty as anyone on this issue, but I, and my colleagues at the time, had an excuse: no one had ever done anything like the UASI program and its formula before and we were learning as we built the program from scratch.
Today, the rational for major changes in eligibility for funding under UASI are all but gone, especially when it comes to removing jurisdictions from the list. As for adding new jurisdictions, I would advise DHS to do so with caution and with an eye toward determining what level of long term funding will be made available as the work that goes into standing up the UASI program and managing it at the local level is enormous. To do so for one grant cycle, only to be cut off next year, will be difficult for all involved. Finally, for those who remain stuck in the purgatory of having once been on the list but are now off, Tuesday may be filled with anticipation, hope and ultimately joy or disappointment. Good luck Omaha.
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