Legislator says White House should have vetted security grants

The Homeland Security Department did not notify the White House of its final allocations of anti-terrorism grants for major urban areas, which included controversial cuts to New York City and Washington, until after the decisions were made, congressional and administration officials said Wednesday.

As a result, House Homeland Security Chairman Peter King, R-N.Y., said he believes the department should have notified the White House before making its final decisions, given the controversial nature of the grant allocations.

"I think that on an issue such as this, both on the strategic importance and the symbolic importance of New York and Washington, this is a decision that should have been made at the highest levels," he said. "I'm making clear to the department that, in the future, I believe that a decision like this should be made by or at least brought to the attention of higher-up people," he said.

In an interview, department spokesman Russ Knocke said his agency went through an internal process to make the funding allocations and then notified the White House and Congress of the final amounts.

He said the department had general dialog with the White House as the grants process was under way, but the White House did not have an opportunity to make changes to the final amounts. In the end, the department made about a 40 percent reduction in its allocation of urban area security initiative grants to New York City and Washington, compared to last year.

King and other lawmakers from both parities have expressed outrage over the cuts.

Knocke defended the allocations, saying Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff made it known months ago that funding decisions would be based on an assessment of risk and vulnerabilities to urban areas.

"We were clear that we recognized there were going to be politicians and stakeholders that would not be happy with this risk-based approach," he said. "We can't be swayed by political winds."

"This is a risk-driven process and the department will drive that process based upon the current threat picture," Knocke added. "We said we are going to do something that's very bold and quite frankly make a lot of people unhappy because we think that's the right thing to do and the right thing to do for the taxpayers."

King said he plans to meet with Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, Thursday in an effort to reach an agreement on legislation that would overhaul the department's process and formula for awarding grants in the future.

Collins has said she is unhappy with the allocations, as her state of Maine saw funding reductions under the state homeland security grant program.

"Susan Collins and I are on the same wave length. We're trying to find a way to make it work," King said. "We have to find a way, if we can, to legislate and make the [Homeland Security] secretary do the right thing."

An aide to Collins described the meeting as "part of their ongoing dialog in their efforts to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions of homeland security grant funding legislation."