Las Vegas has again been placed on the Department of Homeland Security's list of high-risk targets for terrorist attacks, making it eligible for millions more in federal anti-terrorism dollars.

State and federal officials announced Thursday that they had met with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and secured the metropolitan area's designation as a high-risk area after it was downgraded last January. It is now eligible to get a chunk of the more than $700 million in homeland security funding.

"This funding is vital to Nevada first responders and our state's security," U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in a statement. "It will protect the people of Nevada and the millions of tourists who visit our state each year."

Last year, Reid called for Chertoff's resignation after the government announced that the Las Vegas urban area was being downgraded from the list of 35 cities considered the most likely targets of a terrorist attack.

Then-Clark County Sheriff Bill Young also was livid and joined Reid in calling for Chertoff to resign.

Metropolitan Police Department officers who deal with homeland security were pleased when they learned that Clark County would again be eligible for the additional federal funding.

"It's an awesome thing," said Lt. Mike McCrimon of Las Vegas police's homeland security bureau. "We feel like we shouldn't have been taken off the list in the first place. But it looks like things are going to be back on track."

Although the Las Vegas metropolitan area was taken off the list of high-risk cities, it never lost funding.

Jim O'Brien, the county's director of emergency management and homeland security, said Clark County received $7.7 million through the homeland security grant in 2006. That money was used to upgrade communications systems and protect critical infrastructure.

In 2005, Clark County received $8.5 million through the same grant. That went to pay for equipment to detect chemical agents, chemical response vehicles and hand-held computers, among other items.

O'Brien said funding would have been cut if the area was considered a lesser terrorist target for two years running.

Still, he said, the city needs to compete for the money.

"This designation only makes us eligible to compete. There is no guarantee for the amount of funding," he said.

The metropolitan area was downgraded from a high- risk area because the federal government had used faulty data to justify dropping Las Vegas from the list.

Among the problems with the government's analysis were the designation of the Stratosphere as an amusement park instead of the tallest structure west of the Mississippi; the determination that Clark County didn't have a military base even though Nellis Air Force Base is located here; and the omission of Interstate 215 from a list of highways.

Melissa Subbotin, spokeswoman for Gov. Jim Gibbons, said he was excited that the federal government once again made Las Vegas eligible for the funding.

"Eighteen of the 20 busiest hotels are located in Las Vegas, and for obvious reasons we were definitely concerned when that and other factors weren't taken into consideration," she said.