Federal Emergency Management Agency funding, meant to help prevent domestic terrorism and bolster security in local and state governments, is being withheld, officials claim.
For the last two months, FEMA officials have been delayed in posting the latest application guidelines for its Homeland Security Grant Program, which consists of several individual grants. The application is expected to reflect President Donald Trump’s agenda.
But the delay has left state, local, tribal, and territorial governments without assurance that they can obtain funding to bolster security and protect against domestic terrorism threats.
That funding has helped pay for National Guard members to patrol subways in New York, license plate readers in New Jersey, and assist waste plants’ cybersecurity infrastructure in Washington state, among other things, according to the New York Times.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said, in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, that the uncertainty left her “deeply troubled.”
“[Homeland Security Grant Program] provides states, local jurisdictions and their law enforcement, public safety, homeland security and emergency management officials with critical resources to further their preparedness and response capabilities,” Hochul said in her letter.
Hochul said that without those resources, law enforcement is “unable to access state-of-the-art training, the latest advancements in equipment and the ability to seamlessly share and analyze intelligence with each other.”
The Independent has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA for comment.
The program, which began after September 11, 2001, distributed approximately $1 billion in funding in the last fiscal year.
The administration was supposed to release applications by mid-May.
In June, a coalition of organizations representing local and state officials, emergency managers, and those who mitigate disasters also sent a letter to Noem urging her to issue a Notice of Funding Opportunities as soon as possible.
“The lack of timely NOFOs creates an inability to enhance response and recovery capabilities across the country and puts critical infrastructure at risk,” the coalition wrote.
“This comes during a time when nation-state actors, domestic and international extremists, and the hazards of our natural environment pose a tremendous and increasing threat,” it continued.
The concerns over FEMA arrive as the agency faces cutbacks and stricter oversight that has made it more difficult for it to operate freely. Trump has said he wants to phase out FEMA eventually, making states reliant on themselves for emergency response.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for DHS – which oversees FEMA, declined to tell the New York Times when the paperwork could be published but that Noem has, “directed DHS to implement additional controls to ensure that all garnet money going out is consistent with law and does not go to fraud, waste or abuse, as in the past.”
