Homeland security center seeks funding to remain open

A homeland security center in Oklahoma that specializes in training military organizations and first responders to jointly fight terrorist threats is on the verge of closing because it has run out of money.

The National Homeland Security Training Center in Braggs, Okla., has been living off funding slipped into the Defense Department budget each year by the Oklahoma congressional delegation. Now the delegation has asked the center to pursue funding from other organizations, such as the Department of Homeland Security. No money has been found yet, meaning the center faces closure when its current funding dries up at the end of July, officials said.

"It's a national tragedy if we allow the only integrated national homeland security training center designed specifically to train first responders to go under because of some bureaucratic mix-up," said retired Marine Corps Lt. Col. Mark Hughes, who serves as a volunteer coordinator at the center.

The center is seeking $3.8 million to remain open next fiscal year. DHS told center officials this week their only option is to apply for a grant through a new program operated by the agency's Office of Domestic Programs, said Ed Bundy, the center's director.

The new grant program, scheduled to be announced late Friday, allows organizations across the country to compete for $32 million in funding next fiscal year, said ODP spokesman Chris Rizzuto.

Bundy said representatives from the center briefed ODP this week on their grant proposal, but the "prospects were not good."

"You're going to have a significant number of other entities that are going to be applying for those funds," he said.

Advocates describe the center as a state-of-the-art facility that gives military organizations, federal agencies and first responders the opportunity to train jointly in responding to terrorist attacks involving a wide range of weapons of mass destruction. Located at the Oklahoma Military Department's Camp Gruber, the center has 800 acres on which to practice simulations of everything from train wrecks to incidents in a mock downtown area called Liberty Village.

Since December 2002, the center has trained more than 2,000 people, Bundy said. Training is provided for free or little cost to volunteer first responders such as firefighters and emergency medical technicians. Most participants come from Oklahoma and surrounding states, but some have come from as far away as Washington state.

"We've worked extremely hard to make sure that we keep the costs down without cutting back on the quality of the exercises," Bundy said. "We are judiciously using the money so more of it goes to producing quality exercises."

The center has 10 full-time employees, including Bundy, who work for Titan Corp. of San Diego, Calif. During exercises, the center's staffing is augmented with volunteers. Bundy said Titan might put up its own money to keep the center open from August until the start of the new fiscal year Oct. 1. He also said the center's management would be willing to relinquish oversight of the facility to another entity if that meant keeping it open.