Pallone Calls on DHS to Give New Jersey and Other High Risk Areas Priority in Homeland Security Grant Process

Washington, D.C. --- Following today's indictment of Al-Queda terror suspects charged with targeting financial institutions in New York, New Jersey and Washington, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) today called on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to implement a threat-based system for allocating homeland security funds. A threat-based system would give high-risk areas, like New Jersey, priority in the grant process.

In a letter to DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff, Pallone expressed his concern that, despite recent statements by Secretary Chertoff that he supports a threat-based system, the Bush Administration has still proposed cutting homeland security grants to New Jersey by 30 percent.

"These indictments provide adequate evidence to suggest New York and New Jersey continue to remain targets for terrorism," Pallone wrote in the letter to Secretary Chertoff. "However, grant award decisions are still being made with the intent of expending all available funding and spreading funds to as many applicants as possible."

The U.S. Department of Justice said today that the three suspects, currently in custody in England, scouted the New York Stock Exchange and Citicorp Building in New York, the Prudential Building in Newark, N.J., and the International Monetary Fund in Washington as potential sites for terrorist attack.

"This instance alone proves that high-risk states, such as New Jersey, should be awarded an amount of Homeland Security funding equivalent to its needs," Pallone wrote. "I again would like to express that the longer we wait to implement a threat-based funding system, the longer we remain at risk of a major disaster."

In the letter, Pallone thanked Secretary Chertoff for his statements in support of a threat-based approach to grant allocation and for attending last week's TOPOFF-3 terror preparation drill.

"As a former resident of New Jersey, I am assured that you understand the short-term and long-term security threats faced by our State," Pallone wrote. "It is critical to ensure that New Jersey has the proper resources to protect itself and I am hopeful that we can work together to address New Jersey's pressing homeland security funding needs."

In February, Pallone called for a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation into DHS port security grant procedures. His action followed reports that high risk ports, like those in New Jersey, had not been given priority in the federal grant process, that private firms had received funding over public ports, and that the majority of available port security funds remain unspent.