Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Report: Cash flow not enough for first responders

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 12 Jul 2003 18:29:17 -0400

Report: Cash flow not enough for first responders

Just as federal grants for first responders are
starting to reach state and local governments,
a new report warns that police, firefighters and
other emergency personnel are woefully
underfunded and unprepared for terrorist
attacks.

The report by the New York-based Council on
Foreign Relations, a nonpartisan research
group, said the federal government is
expected to provide about $27 billion for first
responders over the next five years. State and
local agencies likely will spend between $26
billion and $75 billion.

The report, released June 30, said first
responders need about $98 billion more than
these planned amounts.

Former Sen. Warren Rudman, R-N.H., and
Richard Clarke, President Bush's former
cybersecurity chief, led the 20-member task
force that wrote the report, "Emergency
Responders: Drastically Underfunded,
Dangerously Unprepared."

In response to the report, the Department of
Homeland Security said it already has
provided billions of dollars in funding to first
responders and will provide billions more in
the months ahead.

"This department has distributed more grant
money [to first responders] than ever before,"
said Gordon Johndroe, a department
spokesman. "We are distributing the money
based on threat information as Congress will
allow us, not just on the old formula."

He also said the department has streamlined
the grant process, so that it takes only a few
weeks, rather than months, to get money to
the states.

Indeed, after waiting many months for federal
grants after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, state
and local governments are getting funds for
personnel, equipment and technology
initiatives, according to industry officials. The
money comes from the $3.5 billion Congress
approved for first responders in the 2003
federal budget and supplemental
appropriations. It passed an additional $3.5
billion for first responders in 2004.

Since March, the Department of Homeland
Security has made more than $4.4 billion
available to first responders. In May, the
department provided $700 million in
homeland security formula grants to 30 major
cities. In June, the department announced that
10 states would receive about $400 million in
grants to enhance response and
preparedness capabilities.

"The money is not a flood yet, but it has
started," said Morgan O'Brien, vice chairman
of Nextel Communications Inc. of Reston, Va.

However, the actual amount that will go
toward technology initiatives from these
grants is small. For example, the $700 million
in grants announced in May includes only $10
million for projects such as interoperability,
security assessment and radiological
defenses, according to market research firm
Gartner Inc., Stamford, Conn.

"Government agencies and IT security
vendors should face the cold reality: DHS has
earmarked a sliver of money for technology
projects," said John Kost, Gartner's managing
vice president for worldwide public-sector
research. "The vast majority will simply end up
paying for 'feet on the street.' "

For this reason, local IT leaders and vendors
targeting the government sector should work
together to build credibility and political clout,
so that technical solutions are at least as
compelling to decision-makers as supporting
payrolls, Kost said.

While most industry officials agreed that funds
for personnel and equipment should go
directly to local governments, this may not be
the right approach for certain technology
initiatives.

O'Brien said that as far as voice and data
interoperability is concerned, state
governments should tackle interoperability.
He believes local governments are too small,
and the federal government is too large to
oversee regional interoperability initiatives.

Industry officials said it is imperative that the
funds go down to local governments as
quickly as possible. "Some states aren't
pushing money down to cities and counties,"
said James Lee Witt, a security consultant
and a former director of the Federal
Emergency Management Agency. "There's a
pretty big void right now."

The hundreds of millions of dollars in grants
that will flow to state and local government
over the next two years is more than the states
are used to handling, said Bob Hickes,
director of homeland security for state and
local government with BearingPoint Inc.,
McLean, Va.

"The states may need to put together a
fast-track grant process. The existing
processes weren't geared to handle the
amounts that are coming," he said.

http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/18_7/cover-stories/21098-1.html

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