Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano announced yesterday the final allocations for 12 preparedness grant programs totaling more than $2.1 billion for FY 2011. The grants were allocated to help states, urban areas, tribal governments, nonprofit agencies and the private sector fend off and respond to major disasters and emergencies. In FY 2011, DHS grants were reduced by $780 million for the FY 2010 enacted level — nearly a one-quarter budget cut.

The 9/11 Commission recommended that homeland security funds be allocated "based strictly on an assessment of risks and vulnerabilities" to focus limited funding in the highest-risk areas. Given the nation’s current economic woes, the grants announced yesterday focus on the highest risk cities that continue to face the most significant threats, Napolitano said in a DHS readout. The nation’s tight fiscal environment meant setting clear priorities and focusing on areas at the greatest risk to maximize limited grant dollars.

Napolitano noted that the FY 2011 grant guidance incorporated feedback from DHS's state, local, tribal, territorial and private- sector partners. Additional information on DHS preparedness grant programs is available at www.dhs.gov and www.fema.gov/grants/.

Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP): $1.28 billion

• State Homeland Security Program (SHSP): $526 million to support state homeland-security strategies to strengthen preparedness capabilities at all levels. The 9/11 Act requires states to dedicate 25% of SHSP appropriated funds to law enforcement for terrorism prevention-oriented planning, organization, training, exercise and equipment activities.
• Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI): $662 million to enhance regional preparedness capabilities in 31 high-threat, high-density urban areas. The 11 highest-risk areas (Tier 1) were eligible for more than $540 million, while the remaining 20 urban areas, designated Tier II, were eligible for more than $121 million. The 9/11 Act requires states to dedicate 25% of UASI appropriated funds to law enforcement terrorism prevention-oriented activities.
• Operation Stonegarden (OPSG): $54 million to enhance cooperation and coordination among local, tribal, territorial, state and federal law-enforcement agencies to secure U.S. land and maritime borders.
• Metropolitan Medical Response System (MMRS) — $34 million, to enhance and sustain comprehensive regional mass casualty incident response and preparedness capabilities, divided evenly among 124 MMRS jurisdictions.
• Citizen Corps Program (CCP): $9 million to engage citizens in community preparedness, planning, mitigation, response and recovery activities.

Tribal Homeland Security Grant Program (THSGP): $10 million for eligible tribes to implement preparedness initiatives.

Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP): $18 million allocated based on risk, to support target-hardening activities to nonprofit organizations located within one of the FY 2011 UASI-eligible urban areas.

Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program (RCPSP): $14 million to enhance catastrophic incident preparedness and coordination in selected high-risk, high-consequence urban areas.

Emergency Operations Center Grant Program (EOC): $14 million to support the construction or renovation of emergency operations centers to ensure continuity of operations during disasters.

Driver's License Security Grant Program (DLSGP): $45 million to improve the reliability and accuracy of personal identification documents that states and territories issue, prevent terrorism, and reduce fraud.

Transit Security Grant Program (TSGP): $200 million to owners and operators of transit systems to protect critical surface transportation from acts of terrorism and increase the resilience of transit infrastructure.

Freight Rail Security Grant Program (FRSGP): $7 million to freight railroad carriers, owners and offerors of railroad cars, and owners of rail bridges to protect critical surface transportation infrastructure from acts of terrorism and increase the resilience of the freight rail system.

Intercity Passenger Rail (IPR) Amtrak Program: $22 million to protect critical surface transportation infrastructure and the traveling public from acts of terrorism and to increase the resilience of the Amtrak rail system.

Intercity Bus Security Grant Program (IBSGP): Nearly $5 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 (PSGP): $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 Management Performance Grants (EMPG) Program: $329 million has been awarded to assist state and local governments to enhance and sustain all-hazards emergency management capabilities.