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New security risk assessment cuts S.C. allotment in half
By Dan McCue
Staff Writer
In late May, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced that it is sending more than $14.6 million in homeland security grant funding to South Carolina.
The allocation is part of a national $1.7 billion homeland security grant program to prevent and respond primarily to terrorist attacks and for other emergencies such a hurricanes, earthquakes and floods.
While the amount is about half what the state received a year ago, Robert M. Stewart, the state’s counterterrorism chief, said the funding is based on a more realistic assessment of the foreseeable risks individual communities will confront.
He also hastened to add that Department of Homeland Security grants represent only a portion of the homeland security funding to the state.
“Since January 2003, my office has distributed roughly $95 million in homeland security funding in South Carolina, but we’re by no means the only state agency that’s done so,” Stewart explained.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, for instance, annually provides between $10 million and $12 million to the S.C. Department of Health and Environment Control to prepare for and deal with the potential public health crisis that might grow out of a terrorist attack, he said.
At the same time, another federal program has distributed approximately $750 million to date to fire departments across the nation to cover the cost of equipment and other purchases.
“And then there’s Project Seahawk, here in Charleston, which started off as a $47 million line item in the federal budget,” Stewart said, referring to the Charleston-based control center considered a model for port security nationwide. At the Project Seahawk facility, advisors from 50 military and intelligence agencies exchange security information and work to keep ports updated on potential threats.
This year the funding that Stewart will distribute through the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division comes from four of five federal programs. These are:
• Homeland Security Grant Program, $544.5 million allocated nationally; $10,040,000 in South Carolina.
• Law Enforcement Terrorism Prevention program, $396 million allocated nationally; $4,100,000 in South Carolina.
• Metropolitan Medical Response System, $29.7 million allocated nationally; $232,330 in South Carolina.
• Citizens Corps Program, $19.8 million allocated nationally; $307,104 in South Carolina.
Stewart, with members of four regional law enforcement-based councils under his supervision, conducted a needs assessment of each county on which to base funding. Armed with an idea of what each community’s needs were, a state council consisting of Stewart and the senior members of the regional bodies came up with a homeland security strategy for the state.
“The theory is that every jurisdiction can’t have everything, but they should at minimum have fast access to what they need if a disaster occurs,” he said.
The remainder of the federal funding is dispersed to local agencies to support a wide range of purchases from private companies, with allocations including training, planning, technology and equipment.
“Generally, we allocate a basic payment of $60,000 to each county, plus an additional stipend based on its population,” he said. “As a result, Charleston might receive an additional $300,000 in homeland security funding, while Calhoun County, which is much less populated, might receive only $55,000.”
Dan McCue is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail him at dmccue@charlestonbusiness.com.
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