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U.S. Response: Security Department Plans $700 Million Antiterror Package The U.S. Homeland Security Department yesterday announced $700 million in security aid for cities and transportation facilities across the United States, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Feb. 27). Under the new aid plan security officials will provide funds to 29 cities and 13 ports (Jonathan Salant, Associated Press/San Bernardino Sun, May 15). The largest recipient will be New York City, slated to receive $200 million, the New York Daily News reported today (Meek/Saul, New York Daily News, May 15). The department’s plan sends $42 million to Washington, $30 million to Chicago, $24 million to Houston and $19 million to Los Angeles. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge has called for a new system of distributing aid that relies less on population and more on threat assessments. “We must ensure maximum benefit is derived from every security dollar,” Ridge said (Salant, Associated Press/San Bernardino Sun). “I think that President Bush and Tom Ridge, when it came to dividing up the pie, were very fair to New York,” said U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). “I wish the pie had been a little bigger, but in terms of the percentage we got, no one can complain,” he added. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg supports the new system of distribution, according to his spokesman, Ed Skyler. The $200 million award to New York City is a “clear declaration that, as the mayor has said, the old population-based funding formula was flawed and all future funding will be based on risk and threat analysis,” Skyler said (Meek/Saul, New York Daily News). The city will receive $125 million to cover extra policing costs incurred because of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the New York Post reported today. The Homeland Security Department will also send the city $30 million to install radiological sensors, $9.4 million to secure the city’s ports, $27 million to provide transit security and $2.6 million for other local transportation agencies (Brian Blomquist, New York Post, May 15).
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