DHS Giving $2.1B in 'Preparedness Grants' to Cities, Indian Tribes, Non-Profits, Etc.

DHS Giving $2.1B in 'Preparedness Grants' to Cities, Indian Tribes, Non-Profits, Etc.

cnsnews.com

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Wednesday announced that her department has allocated more than $2.1 billion to 12 “federal preparedness” grant programs for Fiscal Year 2011.

The money, said DHS, will "assist states, cities, tribal and territorial governments, non-profit agencies, and the private sector in strengthening our nation's ability to prevent, protect, respond to, recover from, and mitigate terrorist attacks, major disasters and other emergencies."

(visit the link for the full news article)

Amazing! Makes you wonder what they are preparing for. Even more amazing is that $2.1 billion seems like chump change nowadays given the current administration's propensity to spend money like its going out of style.

Amtrak is actually getting $22 million to increase it's "resiliency". What? Amtrak needs more money from the government?

cnsnews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Something is up, even Russia is building deep bases.

Here is just a sample of the programs that are getting these grants.

Citizen Corps Program — more than $9 million to engage citizens in community preparedness, planning, mitigation, response and recovery activities.

This next one cracks me up. Perhaps they can improve our nations Birth Certificate system to prevent fraud

Driver's License Security Grant Program — more than $45 million to improve the reliability and accuracy of personal identification documents that states and territories issue, prevent terrorism, and reduce fraud.

Amtrak is actually getting more money than our freight train network. The freight system seems more vulnerable to me!!

Freight Rail Security Grant Program — more than $7 million to freight railroad carriers, owners and offerors of railroad cars, and owners of rail bridges to protect critical surface transportation infrastructure from acts of terrorism and increase the resilience of the freight rail system.

cnsnews.com...


ETA

From 2002 through 2011, more than $32.1 billion has been awarded in preparedness grants to help strengthen and protect the homeland.

DHS said the grant awards announced Wednesday focus on cities that continue to face the most significant threats, "while continuing to provide dedicated funding to law enforcement agencies throughout the country."

And yet we still have a massive black hole along our nation's southern border not to mention our border with Canada.

Driver's License Security Grant Program — more than $45 million to improve the reliability and accuracy of personal identification documents that states and territories issue, prevent terrorism, and reduce fraud.

In light of news in the Fresno Bee yesterday, I can understand this.

Federal authorities on Tuesday arrested more than a dozen people who they say were part of an elaborate scheme based out of a Fresno DMV office to issue commercial driver's licenses to people who didn't pass the required tests. The U.S. Attorney's Office says at least 40 fake licenses were issued – and likely more. The result was unqualified drivers on the state's highways behind the wheel of semi trucks – some hauling hazardous materials – as well as cement trucks and other large commercial vehicles. "From a homeland security perspective, this is a threat not only to public safety, but national security," said Mike Prado, a supervisory special agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Read more: www.fresnobee.com...

As for the monies granted to Amtrak, one can only assume that these funds will be used to implement TSA scanners and security checkpoints. I feel that the same will apply to the Intercity Bus programs. (eg. Greyhound)

Personally, I was wondering just how long it would take for the DHS/TSA to get around to this part of the plan of instilling their regime.

Any day now i expect to hear "Papers please" as i walk to the store stand in a bread line.

Personally I think these tactics by DHS is all about crowd control, as they know that things are about to get ugly in this country, and soon.

their idea of emergency preparedness is a cctv/celldar grid.

watch for small cessna type aircraft patrolling your towns, they are not difficult to track. it is fairly simple to determine if a plane has an actual destination its flying to or if its just snoopin around. police scanner radios pickup aircraft transmissions to. no commercial or private aircraft will be flying less than 400 feet as thats reserved for law enforcement.

this is already happening in towns that recently(within past year) deployed "smart meters"

the meters establish a microwave(2.4ghz) rf grid, that is able to render the interference as 3d imaging via overhead planes using CELLDAR. your wifis arent helping either....neither are your chordless phones. they can surely see right into your house and even about 4 feet into the ground.

look into it.

id bet my right foot its tied to this same DHS budget.

Flashback to 2003!!! Sound Familiar. Back then it was $40 million to the Presidents Citizen Corps Program. Deja Vu anyone?

he Department of Homeland Security has released a total of $2.2 billion in grants to first responders.

Nearly $1.7 billion of the grants will be made available to states and then to local governments. The funds are earmarked for equipment, training and exercises, and for statewide planning to ensure the wisest and most practical use of those resources.

“We cannot secure the nation solely from the nation's capital,” Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said. “We need to support first responders at the state and local level who are our partners in this effort.”

The remainder of the funding will be allocated among two programs.

First, $500 million will be awarded in new Law Enforcement Prevention Grants, which can be used to provide interoperable communications equipment or to purchase law enforcement supplies, such as SWAT gear.

The final $40 million is for the President's Citizen Corps program, used to educate families about the crucial role they play in preparedness and volunteer opportunities.

“We've moved quickly to get the money out the door,” Ridge said. “We approved 96 percent of the 2003 grant requests within four days and required states to obligate funding to cities within 45 days.”

securitysolutions.com...

reply to post by jibeho

This next one cracks me up. Perhaps they can improve our nations Birth Certificate system to prevent fraud

Driver's License Security Grant Program — more than $45 million to improve the reliability and accuracy of personal identification documents that states and territories issue, prevent terrorism, and reduce fraud.

This is about putting READABLE RFID chips in our drivers licences and passports.

... The State Department says it's just following international standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), under the umbrella of the United Nations. In May 2003, the ICAO specified the RFID and facial biometric or digitized head shot now being adopted by other countries at the behest of the United States....

...Mr. Steinhardt calls the State Department's approach "policy laundering," and says the US pushed through the standards against the reservations of the Europeans. "Bush says at the G8 meeting, 'We have to adhere to the global standard,' as though we had nothing to do with it. It was masterful from a political perspective," he says in exasperation.

But even the ICAO, in the small print of a document published last May titled, "Use of Contactless ICs in Machine Readable Travel Documents," acknowledges the new RFID chips won't be foolproof: "... it is unlikely that unauthorized reading will occur. However, this cannot be completely ruled out."

Although the data on the chip will not be encrypted, for the sake of easing "interoperability" across international borders, Ms. Shannon says, the government does plan to incorporate a security feature that will largely prevent skimming. Embedded fibers in the front and back covers will shield the passport from electronic probing, at least while it is closed. Other security features in the new passports include a digital or electronic seal that will ensure the document is authentic and smart-card technology that renders the chip inoperable if it is tampered with using energy waves or radio waves.... www.wanttoknow.info...

There is also the very successful pilot program in New York City.

The New York Police Department, with help from the CIA, is running antiterrorism operations by spying without "Just Cause" or warrants... www.abovetopsecret.com...