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As federal and state officials finger point, states eagerly wait for terrorism funding

Emergency Management Alert, March 12, 2004

Many states still report that they have yet to receive federal terrorism funding. Meanwhile federal, state, and local officials are beginning to play the blame game, Federal Computer Week reports.

While most officials admit the money isn't moving as fast as the government had hoped, Suzanne Mencer, director of the Office for Domestic Preparedness, said the "money is not stuck anywhere," Computer Week reports.

At a press meeting a few weeks ago, Clifford Ong, director of homeland security for Indiana, says the problem is that state officials haven't done an adequate job explaining how the funding process works to local officials, citizens, and the private sector, Computer Week reports.

"If there is one place where the states haven't done what we should have done, it's education," George Forseman, Virginia's deputy assistant to the governor for commonwealth prepardness told Computer Week.

At a Department of Homeland Security meeting held last month, state officials learned to do a better job at managing "expectations."

While state officials throughout the country are examining better methods and ways to distribute the funding, like choosing not to spend all the money available on potentials risks and saving for new terror threats, local officials are still being left out of the mix.

There is no common procedure for ensuring that local officials are included in the strategy process, Computer Week reports.

"We've got to collectively quit pointing fingers and sit down and make this happen," Foresman said.

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