Homeland Aid Cut Called Pennsylvania Security Threat

Federal homeland security money has improved Pennsylvania's ability to respond to disasters, but the state could become an attractive target for terrorists if funding keeps dropping, officials said yesterday.

Adrian R. King Jr., director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, released records yesterday that give a partial glimpse of how the state has spent more than $214 million from the federal Office of Domestic Preparedness since 1999.

King said the state had provided first responders - including police, firefighters and emergency personnel - with protective gear and detection and decontamination equipment. He also said they have been given technology to communicate on otherwise-incompatible radio systems.

"We have really raised the bar significantly in Pennsylvania," King said at a news conference in Harrisburg.

But in 2005, Pennsylvania will face at least a 20 percent reduction in its federal allocation, as the Office of Homeland Security channels funding to the areas determined to be at greatest risk.

Giving more money to New York and Washington could leave potential targets in Pennsylvania or other less-protected areas more vulnerable, officials said.

"We're deeply concerned," said Robert A. Full, chief of emergency services for Allegheny County and chairman of the state's Southwestern Regional Task Force. "Now is not the time to start cutting back."

Evalyn Fisher, director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency's bureau of plans and training, said the homeland security equipment was used in a January train derailment in Allegheny County and in responding to Tropical Storm Ivan in September.

Agents with chemical, biological, radiological and explosive detection equipment were on hand for the events ranging from presidential visits to the Pocono 500.

Yesterday, King agreed to provide invoices for virtually all of the equipment ordered in the state since 1999. The release came after several news organizations, including The Inquirer, requested the information.

The invoices, more than 4,000 in all, detail a wide range of spending, for items ranging from SUVs to body armor to explosive-sniffing dogs.

Purchases range from high-tech night-vision goggles ($8,234 each) and a 50-inch plasma television ($5,405) to low-tech black-vinyl body bags ($28 each) and $2.35 rolls of duct tape.

Among the big-ticket items were a bomb robot ($205,443) and decontamination trailers for hazardous materials ($124,950 each).

But King refused to release the destinations or any specifications that spell out the capabilities of the equipment.

"We are not going to provide certain information because we don't think it's in the best interest of public safety," King said.

That policy drew an immediate response from Larry Frankel, legislative director for the Pennsylvania ACLU.

"I have some real concerns about the state withholding info on geographic location," Frankel said in an e-mail. "How do we know that most of the money is not going to certain parts of the state?"

King suggested that members of the public who want to see the purchase orders could be subject to background checks.

The federally funded equipment, technology and training is dispersed throughout the state in three ways.

Each of the nine state counterterrorism task forces receives money, as do the Urban Area Security Initiatives for Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Local law enforcement agencies also receive new antiterrorism grants.

Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties are part of both the Southeast Regional Terrorism Task Force and Philadelphia's Urban Area Security Initiative.