Since 2003, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has provided funding for states and urban areas across the country, under its Homeland Security Grant Program, in an effort to improve emergency preparedness, at the local level, in the event of a terrorist attack. Such funding has been available through two types of programs known as the State Homeland Security Grant Program (SHSGP) and the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI). Both types of funds have consisted of myriad formulas and application requirements which have caused disputes between members of the United States Congress as well as between state governors regarding the amount of allocations doled out, both in the past and presently.

In 2006, when it was thought that the program could not get any more confusing and unfair to certain states and urban areas, the DHS has topped itself yet again. Many lawmakers have been left dumbfounded, since they have so little information and criteria available in the decisions that the DHS has made for Fiscal Year 2006, which began October 1, 2005. In addition, the decisions for FY 2006 will have a direct impact on any forthcoming funding beyond FY 2007, for those urban areas which have been deleted from the eligible list for 2006.

If the aforementioned has left you confused, you are not alone. It is important to note that the two distinctly separate funding programs, although Homeland Security Grant Programs, are more apt now to become supplements to each other, as the amount of funding has been cut for not only 2006 distributions but projected to be further reduced in 2007 as well. The UASI grants for 2006 allot $765 million to 35 urban or metropolitan areas, comprised of various counties, cities and towns in their immediate vicinities. In 2005 there included 50 urban areas and thus the initial outcries this year.

The 2006 eligible urban areas list has left off some major urban regions which were included in 2005 and since the program