We first sent an open-records request to New Hampshire’s Department of Safety under the state’s Right-to-Know law in September of 2008 asking for records showing how federal anti-terrorism grants had been spent there since 2001. Officials responded that it would take at least 15 business days to determine what records were available and what they […]

In response to a request submitted under Vermont’s open-records laws, the state Department of Public Safety turned over several electronic spreadsheets detailing how they’ve used federal homeland security grants since 2001. You can download the Excel files here, and for the most part they’re simple to navigate and understand. Local communities purchase equipment and services […]

Shortly after the Sept. 11 hijackings, the federal government promised it would pay closer attention to how the nation guarded its most precious and vital assets against potential terrorist attacks. Are drinking water delivery systems vulnerable? Could perpetrators bomb a chemical production facility? Former President George W. Bush issued a directive in late 2003 requiring […]

One of the major contributions New Jersey made to homeland security in the United States is Thomas H. Kean. A former Republican governor of the Garden State, Kean was chair of the 9/11 Commission, which investigated and eventually reported in telling detail the events surrounding the Sept. 11 hijackings. The commission’s final 2004 report contained […]

Much of the responsibility for overseeing federal homeland security grants was shifted away from Washington after the Sept. 11 attacks and placed on a single office in each state designated by the governor to be in charge of the money. Personnel in that office determine what the state’s preparedness needs are, review documents like invoices […]

“Intelligence-led policing” became one of the most popular phrases among authorities after the Sept. 11 hijackings. Investigators wanted to compile oceans of information about potentially dangerous people and use super-computer technology to analyze it in search of evidence that perpetrators were planning another attack. They also vowed to exchange critical information among local, state and […]

The state of New Mexico receives money from the federal government in the form of grants to help pay for defeating threats from terrorists, preparing for potential catastrophes and prosecuting criminal cases that arise on the southwest border where national security challenges are exceptional compared to what other areas of the country may face. Unfortunately, […]

Just a few years after the Sept. 11 attacks, which killed 184 people at the Pentagon, citizens living in the nation’s capital became less concerned about emergency preparedness. So says a report by Washington, D.C.’s Office of the Auditor released in March of 2009. Local governments in the Washington area spent a total of $4.6 […]

It has been difficult convincing Kansas to make available the records showing how its homeland security grants have been spent and managed since 2001. We first filed a request in August of 2008 under the Kansas Open Records Act looking for lists documenting all equipment and services invoiced and paid for under a series of […]

No place suffered more severe of a psychic blow from the Sept. 11 hijackings than New York City. One chilling dimension of the attacks illustrates how complicated the recovery effort became. Death certificates were issued for 2,746 people in the wake of the tragedy. But four years after 9/11 when the unparalleled effort to identify […]