Bulk of Homeland Security Money Slow Reaching Towns

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- Federal homeland security funds earmarked for Connecticut towns has been trickling in slowly, frustrating some municipal officials.

For example, Fairfield requested more than $180,000 in gear and equipment as part of a 2004 federal anti-terrorism grant. The town has yet to see the money.

"Six months ago, the state informed localities they were going to be able to release funds from 2004 within weeks. We still have not seen a cent," First Selectman Kenneth Flatto told the Connecticut Post. "It is exceedingly frustrating."

Connecticut's Division of Homeland Security has doled out one-tenth of the $24 million it received in 2004 federal grants and is just beginning to accept requests from towns for 2005.

Elizabeth Graham, grants administrator for the state Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, said the state received the federal funds in March and has processed $2.4 million to some of the participating towns.

"The backlog of town applications some from mid-2004 are finally starting to be processed," said Kevin Maloney, a spokesman for the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities.

Connecticut Homeland Security Commissioner James M. Thomas said that there has been a "very concerted effort" to get the funds out quickly. He said that the delays have occurred because the Homeland Security Division was only recently established and communities have often failed to specify what they want the funding for.

Sen. Judd Gregg, D-N.H., said last week that the money has not been spent because the "assessments and plans for spending the money haven't been properly prepared." Gregg, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Homeland Security subcommittee, argued last week against adding more funds for first responders to the 2006 federal budget. He said the system could not handle $16 billion on top of the existing funds in the pipeline.

"Most troubling is the whole process," Flatto said. "The whole point of the funds was to immediately strengthen local security because of the possibility of terrorism. Yet, money has been more difficult to get than with regular grants. Something has broken down."

In the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the Bush administration launched a two-pronged response: Attack the terrorists overseas and defend America here at home. Congress has poured billions into both efforts. But while municipalities seem to stand in line for their money, some in Congress have been critical over the approach taken by the Coalition Provisional Authority to reconstructing Iraq. They say the authority handed out billions of dollars with little oversight.

After U.S. forces invaded in 2003, the UN Security Council gave U.S. officials authority to use an estimated $19 billion in oil revenues and other Iraqi assets for the benefit of the Iraqi people. Former Coalition Provisional Authority aviation adviser Frank Willis described a "Wild West" atmosphere in Iraq that stressed speed over fiduciary care.

Willis explained that Iraq at that time had an all-cash economy and a primitive banking system. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., said that security conditions, cultural idiosyncrasies and an all-cash economy posed enormous challenges to the conduct of public business. But Shays said he's certain the bulk of the money was spent appropriately.