TRENTON
— The U.S. Department of Homeland
Security's Office for Domestic Preparedness
(ODP) has approved New Jersey's comprehensive
strategy for distributing a total of $87.4
million in federal fiscal year (FFY) 2004
homeland security funds throughout the
state, Attorney General Peter C. Harvey
said today. The State submitted its strategy
documents for spending the funds at the
end of January. Once ODP issues the award,
the State —working with its county
and municipal partners — will then
have 60 days to develop a detailed spending
plan that will support the State's strategy.
"New Jersey will continue to use
available federal dollars to provide the
greatest possible protection for our citizens,"
said Governor James E. McGreevey. "I
am pleased that the Department of Homeland
Security has responded to our requests
and the requests of our Congressional
delegation to factor risk into its grant
allocations, at least in funding for our
urban areas. But we will continue our
efforts with our Congressional delegation
to ensure that a State as densely populated
with people and critical infrastructure
as New Jersey receives funding commensurate
with the risks it faces."
The Attorney General said that the Department
of Homeland Security (DHS) approved two
applications: the first for more than
$55.4 million in FFY 2004 funds for first
responders, law enforcement officers and
civilian volunteers and a second for almost
$32 million in Urban Area Security Initiative
(UASI) grants for enhancing security in
the six-county greater Newark and Jersey
City metropolitan area. In terms of the
UASI grants, Attorney General Harvey lauded
Mayor Sharpe James of Newark and Mayor
Glenn D. Cunningham of Jersey City for
understanding that New Jersey's preparation
and response must be regional — and
cannot be limited to the borders of their
cities alone.
"The
strategy documents New Jersey submitted
for federal funding recognize the necessity
for statewide and regional solutions based
on principles of mutual aid," said
Harvey, who chairs New Jersey's Domestic
Security Preparedness Task Force,
the cabinet-level body that oversees State
homeland security policy and coordination
efforts.
"New
Jersey's strategy documents also recognize
the necessity for protecting critical
facilities and first responders across
the state based on an assessment of potential
vulnerability and risk of attack,"
Harvey said.
The funding strategies were developed
by the Task Force's broad-based funding
subcommittee, under the supervision of
the Attorney General's Grants Management
Office.
The FFY 2004 grants will be used to continue
funding for a range of security enhancements
designed to prevent, detect and interdict
terrorist attacks and to improve responses
should one occur. These include "hardening"
critical facilities against attack with
security and surveillance, improving communications
among first responders and the medical
community and providing a statewide, coordinated
program to detect and defuse explosives.
The grants will also fund a number of
statewide initiatives, including:
- Expanding
and enhancing the Statewide Intelligence
Management System (SIMS), a law enforcement
database for reporting and managing
counter-terrorism information and leads;
- Deploying
a statewide virtual "E-Learning"
network for training first responders;
- Expanding
federal Citizen Corps activities for
New Jersey volunteers, such as the Community
Emergency Response Team (CERT) program.
Harvey also noted that, consistent with
the Task Force's regional approach, it
has divided the State's counties into
five larger regions for purposes of planning
and developing strategies to make the
most effective use of the grant monies.
The five regions are:
- UASI
(the existing six-county Urban Area
Security Initiative group): Essex, Hudson,
Bergen, Morris, Passaic and Union
- Northwest:
Sussex, Warren and Hunterdon
- Central:
Somerset, Middlesex, Mercer and Monmouth
- Delaware
River: Burlington, Camden, Gloucester,
Salem and Cumberland
- Shore:
Ocean, Atlantic and Cape May
In addition, the State's submission identifies
12 focus areas in which the grants will
continue funding ongoing initiatives,
as well as new ones:
- Protecting
critical infrastructure statewide
Managing intelligence information
- Enhancing
statewide terrorism detection initiatives
- Enhancing
statewide response capabilities
- Augmenting
training capacity
- Following
through and building on the State's
exercise program
- Developing
Statewide interoperability for communications
- Developing
increased capacity to improve situational
awareness, i.e., the ability to exchange
secure real-time data and information
during and in response to a terrorist
incident
- Developing
unified emergency medical services (EMS)
resources for response to terrorist
incidents
- Enhancing
the capacities of citizen volunteers
to protect themselves, their families
and their communities in the event of
a terrorist or other incident
- Continuing
the "follow the hazards,"
or risk-based approach for distributing
funds to first responders to prevent,
detect and respond to potential incidents
- Augmenting
regional planning capacity to improve
counties' abilities to detect, deter,
prevent and respond to terrorist activity
Plans
for the proposed total $32 million in
funding for the Newark and Jersey City
UASI grants entail building on the regional
efforts that are underway in the six-county
area funded by the $11.9 million 2003
federal fiscal year grant. These include
a number of regional initiatives to respond
in a coordinated manner across jurisdictional
lines and regional planning efforts to
"harden," or increase physical
protection at potential critical infrastructure
"targets," such as transportation
facilities, manufacturing plants and "soft
targets" such as shopping malls.
$46.9
Million in Federal Fiscal Year 2003 Funds
Being Made Available
The $87.4 million in FFY 2004 funds are
in addition to a total of $46.9 million
for State and local first responders,
target hardening, currently in various
stages of distribution to municipalities
and agencies from FFY 2003 and supplemental
FFY 2003 grant programs. In addition,
the State is awaiting DHS approval of
its spending plan to distribute the $11.9
million in FFY 2003 UASI funds to counties
and municipalities.
"Counties
and municipalities play a key role in
protecting New Jersey citizens because
their first responders are most often
the first to reach the scene of an incident
or disaster, whether it's man-made or
natural," said First Assistant Attorney
General Edward M. Neafsey. "The State
has developed the overarching strategy
for protection, but has relied extensively
on the counties, which have a clearer
understanding of the strengths and particular
vulnerabilities within their borders,
to help determine how funds are distributed
locally."
Neafsey said the Domestic Security Preparedness
Task Force required that each county form
a County Multi-Disciplinary Working Group
and charged the working group with developing
funding plans centered on protecting —
and responding to potential incidents
at — sites where threats or hazards
had been identified within the county.
At a minimum, he said, the county working
group includes the County OEM Coordinator,
County Freeholder Director/Executive Director,
County Fiscal Officer, County Prosecutor,
County Police Chiefs Association representative,
County Fire Coordinator/Fire Marshal,
County EMS Coordinator, and the hazmat
or chemical, biological, radiological,
nuclear and explosive (CBRNE) team representative.
The Task Force's funding subcommittee
is made up of representatives from the
Task Force's component agencies, including
the Division of State Police, the Office
of Emergency Management, Office of Counter-Terrorism,
Board of Public Utilities, Office of Information
Technology, and the State Departments
of Community Affairs, Environmental Protection,
Health and Senior Services and Transportation.
In addition, representatives from the
State Department of Corrections, the New
Jersey College University Public Safety
Association, Port Authority of NY/NJ,
and various first responder disciplines
provided input to the State funding subcommittee.
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