Grant program adds three cities to highest-risk group

The Homeland Security Department on Tuesday announced $2.7 billion in grant allocations to state and local governments and moved the cities of Boston, Philadelphia and Dallas into the highest-risk tier for terrorist attacks.

Most states and cities will receive about the same amount of funding as they did last year under the state homeland security grant program and the high-risk urban areas security grant program.

But funding for Boston, Philadelphia and Dallas is being increased because they moved from the second tier of the urban areas grant program to the top tier. The number of cities in the top tier has now been increased from seven to 10.

The Dallas-Fort Worth area will get about $25 million; Philadelphia about $23 million; and Boston about $19 million. Actual funding will be disbursed at a later date, after state and local governments submit applications explaining how they will spend the money.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the decision to add the three cities to the top tier was based on a combination of factors.

"What it represents is an assessment of risk versus looking at some other factors, such as population densities and other things of that sort," she said.

A Homeland Security spokeswoman added that Boston, Philadelphia and Dallas are more closely aligned to the other top tier urban areas.

"DHS decided to expand the top tier list to ensure a higher percentage of funding was going to the nation's highest risk urban areas," she said.

The cities of Omaha, Neb., and Bakersfield, Calif., were first-time grant recipients, having been added to the urban areas grant program's second tier. The department cut $1 million from awards to Albany and Syracuse, N.Y., to free up funding for Omaha and Bakersfield.

The department also announced it has created a task force to help improve the grants application process. Task force members plan to brief congressional appropriators next week and begin meeting with state and local officials in January.

But House Homeland Security ranking member Peter King, R-N.Y., expressed concern that expanding the number of cities in the program might ultimately lead to a reduction in funding for major cities such as New York, which is near his district.

"I want to make sure that by adding new cities, money is not taken away from cities that are prime terrorist targets," he said.

Lawmakers from the newly elevated cities were pleased, however. "I welcome this designation, which reflects the reality that the greater Boston region has significant security challenges," said Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass.

"I have argued for years that we have [liquefied natural gas] facilities and other sensitive infrastructure in greater Boston that warrants a Tier 1 designation," he added. "The funding increase associated with this new designation will provide much-needed resources to continue progress in this vital area."

Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, who represents Dallas, said drug and gang activity in the city adds to its risk profile. "Of course nobody likes that but I'm glad to have the attention given to it," she said of Dallas being moved to the top tier.

A spokeswoman for Rep. Robert Brady, D-Pa., whose district includes Center City Philadelphia, said the lawmaker has been working to secure more homeland security funding. "He is pleased that the Obama administration has recognized our historic treasures, our strategic military port and the number of technological and research facilities and is providing the money we need to protect them," she said.