Information Led To Loss Of Funding
State and local public safety officials are questioning data used by the Department of Homeland Security to keep Tampa off a list of 35 metro areas eligible for new security funding.
The Homeland Security formula considered threat information gathered from intelligence agencies, and it assessed critical infrastructure, transit systems, airports, hospitals, chemical plants and port facilities, according to spokesman Marc Short. The department also examined population, whether the community has an international border and whether “people of special interest” were removed from the community. Vulnerability to natural disasters, such as hurricanes, is not considered.
New York, Boston, Washing and Los Angeles are among the areas that will continue to receive the funding. Memphis, Tenn., was added. Four other Florida metropolitan areas — Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville and Orlando — also made the list of 35 cities eligible to fund new programs under the Urban Areas Security Initiative.
“It is a relative analysis,” Short said. “We are not suggesting that the Tampa community does not have critical infrastructure or is without risk.”
State and local public safety officials on Wednesday were not assuaged by Short’s explanation.
“We would like to see the finalized weight on each of these urban areas,” said Jane Castor, the Tampa’s Police Department’s deputy chief and the point of contact for Tampa’s public safety agencies. “There are certain locations in the U.S. that if you put them side-by-side with Tampa, there is no way they would or should be deemed a more critical area than Tampa.”
David Halstead, chief of domestic preparedness for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, said he was “flabbergasted.”
“There is the Port of Tampa,” he said. “There is a large population. Major universities. Major pro stadiums. Those things are of critical importance, as well as other critical infrastructure like commerce, financial institutions, and the military being there.”
Halstead said state and local officials “want to make sure they are using accurate, up-to-date information.”
“It’s been a point of contention in the past that we have not been asked for information about critical infrastructure.” Castor said. “I would like to know how old that information is. It would be better if they came to Tampa police, for instance, and ask what critical infrastructure resides within our area.”
The Homeland Security data are up-to-date, accurate and come from multiple sources, Short said.
“We are continually looking for feedback from state and local officials,” he said, adding that this year, the agency’s analysis was far more thorough than in the past.
In 2005, he said, the data that went into deciding which areas received funding took up 43,000 Excel spreadsheets and produced about 2 million calculations. This year, the data took up 30 million spreadsheets and about 3.2 billion calculations.
This year Homeland Security not only took into account what kinds of infrastructure exist but also their vulnerability, likely targets and the number of people possibly affected by an attack.
Castor on Wednesday reiterated that Tampa’s biggest concern is ensuring the continued funding of a new communications system that would allow public safety officials in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, and Pinellas and Hillsborough counties to talk directly to one another. She said officials here are still waiting for an explanation of what programs will be continued.
Homeland Security’s Short said officials have until March 3 to apply for the funding. He said that until those applications are received, there is no way to know how much money will be awarded or what programs will be continued.
