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U.S. Response I: Emergency Funds Are Distributed and Spent Slowly U.S. officials have failed to allocate large amounts of anti-terrorism funds to state and local authorities, and those governments in turn have often failed to spend their funds quickly or efficiently, according to a Justice Department inspector general report issued yesterday (see GSN, March 6). The Justice Department’s Office for Domestic Preparedness, the organization responsible for distributing the funds, has not yet awarded $141 million of the $243 million Congress allocated for emergency equipment for state and local governments, the report said, according to the Washington Post. The money is intended to buy equipment for emergency responders, including personal protective gear for police, firefighters and other related personnel, equipment to detect chemical and biological agents, decontamination equipment and communication devices. The money “has not been getting out as fast as it needs to. Once it does, it’s not spent expeditiously,” said Inspector General Glenn Fine. As of January, state and local governments were still holding onto $65 million of the $102 million that Justice has issued in the last four years, according to the report. Some city officials said local red tape had delayed spending. Of the money spent, $870,000 worth of items “would have been unusable in the event of a terrorist attack” because personnel did not have proper training for using equipment, or items were in storage, lost or outdated, the report said. Justice officials said some delays in awarding money stem from a congressional requirement that state governments submit a plan assessing needs and outlining three-year strategies, according to the Post. Attorney General John Ashcroft has urged states to complete that process, and 48 states now have been cleared to receive money, the Post reported (Bill Miller, Washington Post, April 9). “It is imperative that the Department of Justice disburse the funds in a timely manner and that state and local recipients — who are ‘first responders’ in a crisis — use the funds in a timely manner,” Fine said. Recommendations The inspector general’s report recommended several steps to ensure money is properly spent: * Establish controls to ensure states submit applications quickly and efficiently and are held accountable for using funds quickly; * Ensure grantees distribute and maintain equipment and train personnel to operate it; * Ensure grantees participate in training exercises to maintain readiness, and * Ensure funds awarded to grantees improves their ability to respond to terrorist attacks by developing performance standards in line with the Government Performance Results Act (Jerry Seper, Washington Times, April 9). More Money on the Way The Justice Department and state and local officials must solve problems soon, Fine said, because the Bush administration has requested another $770 million for emergency equipment in the fiscal 2003 budget proposal. The Bush proposal also would move the Office for Domestic Preparedness from the Justice Department to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Miller, Washington Post).
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