State’s Homeland Security funds dip

If Nevadans believed having the Senate majority leader in their corner would land them more federal anti-terrorism funding, they'd be wrong to the tune of about $1.1 million.

The Department of Homeland Security is expected to announce today that Nevada and 37 other states saw grant funding dip from 2006 to 2007.

Nevada will lose about 6 percent in grant money overall, from $20.5 million in 2006 to $19.4 million in 2007, according to figures released by Gov. Jim Gibbons' office.

The state's congressional delegation focused on the one bright spot: a $1.6 million, or 16.8 percent, increase to the state's Urban Area Security Initiative, or UASI, grant. That money can be used only in Clark County. In a joint statement, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., applauded the boost in funding to the metropolitan area.

"The Department of Homeland Security finally took into account our state's unique challenge of protecting millions of tourists who come here every year," Reid said.

Ensign added: "Nevada, an increasingly popular tourist destination, is home to both Hoover Dam and one of the busiest airports in the world."

Nevada will see an increase in one other Homeland Security grant program. The Metropolitan Medical Response System grant will increase by about $26,000, or 10 percent, from $232,330 in 2006 to $258,145 this year.

The three other Homeland Security grant programs saw losses from 2006 to this year's allotted funding. The State Homeland Security Program lost $2.5 million, or 44 percent; the Law Enforcement Terrorism Prevention Program lost $180,000, or 4.5 percent; and the Citizen Corps Program lost $57,354, or 32 percent.

The increase in UASI funding is quite a turnaround from last year, when Homeland Security officials wanted to remove Las Vegas -- where some of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers spent time -- as an eligible city for the grant.

That decision sent a leading law enforcement official scurrying to the nation's capital to lobby Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and the congressional delegation. Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Doug Gillespie, who was then second in command, was successful in his efforts, and Las Vegas returned to the high-level threat list.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., welcomed the boost in UASI funding. "Whenever we get more money than we got the year before, I am happy."

Lt. Tom Monahan, head of the police department's counterterrorism section, said the UASI money is expected to fund equipment purchases, operational costs such as technical consultants, and the lease of the new fusion center, an operational hub meant to streamline efforts of emergency services and public safety officials.

Stephens Washington Bureau chief Steve Tetreault and Review-Journal Capital Bureau writer Sean Whaley contributed to this report