The Blueprint breaks down cybersecurity into two areas of action:

• Protecting our Critical Information Infrastructure Today
• and Building a Stronger Cyber Ecosystem for Tomorrow.

Israeli Minister of the Home Front Defense Matan Vilnai: Preparedness is Everything

“I have just returned from trip to Japan. The country is recovering from the triple blow of tsunami, earthquake and the following nuclear disaster. The only way to cope with such unfortunate events is to be prepared. Preparedness is everything.”

IEEE HST 2011, to be held 15-17 November 2011 in Boston, MA, will bring together global science and technology thought leaders to foster homeland security technology innovation. The conference is produced by IEEE with technical support from DHS S&T, IEEE Biometrics Council, IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, and IEEE-USA, as well as with organizational support from MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Raytheon, and MITRE. The focus of the Call for Papers, Posters and Tutorials is on emerging technologies in the areas of: Cyber Security, Attack and Disaster Preparation, Recovery, and Response; Land and Maritime Border Security, and Biometrics, Forensics and Physical Security. Sponsors include Raytheon, Massport, Elbit Systems, and Teledyne Benthos. To learn more, visit www.ieee-hst.org or contact Robert Alongi, IEEE at information@ieee-hst.org at +1 781-245-5405.

The newly announced grants focus on the highest risk cities that continue to face the most significant threats, while continuing to provide dedicated funding to law enforcement throughout the country to prepare for, prevent and respond to pre-operational activity and other crimes that are precursors or indicators of terrorist activity. The 9/11 Commission recommended that homeland security funds be allocated “based strictly on an assessment of risks and vulnerabilities” to focus limited funding in the highest risk areas.

Preparedness Grant Program Allocations for Fiscal Year 2011:

Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP)—$1.2 billion for states or urban areas to build capabilities critical to security. HSGP consists of five programs:

• State Homeland Security Program (SHSP)—more than $526 million to support the implementation of state homeland security strategies to build and strengthen preparedness capabilities at all levels. The 9/11 Act requires states to dedicate 25 percent of SHSP appropriated funds to law enforcement terrorism prevention-oriented planning, organization, training, exercise and equipment activities.
• Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI)—more than $662 million to enhance regional preparedness and capabilities in 31 high-threat, high-density areas. In order to focus limited resources to mitigate and respond to evolving threats, the 11 highest risk areas (Tier 1) will be eligible for more than $540 million, while the remaining 20 urban areas, designated Tier II will be eligible for more than $121 million. The 9/11 Act requires states to dedicate 25 percent of UASI appropriated funds to law enforcement terrorism prevention-oriented activities.
• Operation Stonegarden (OPSG)—more than $54 million to enhance cooperation and coordination among federal, state, territorial, tribal and local law enforcement agencies to jointly enhance security along the United States land and water borders.
• Metropolitan Medical Response System Program (MMRS)—more than $34 million, to enhance and sustain comprehensive regional mass casualty incident response and preparedness capabilities, divided evenly among 124 MMRS jurisdictions.
• Citizen Corps Program (CCP)—more than $9 million to engage citizens in community preparedness, planning, mitigation, response and recovery activities.

Tribal Homeland Security Grant Program (THSGP)—$10 million to eligible tribal applicants to implement preparedness initiatives to help strengthen the nation against risk associated with potential terrorist attacks and other hazards.

Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP)—more than $18 million to support target-hardening activities at non-profit organizations at high risk of a terrorist attack and located within one of the FY2011 UASI-eligible urban areas.

Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program (RCPGP)—more than $14 million to enhance catastrophic incident preparedness in high-risk, high-consequence urban areas and their surrounding regions and support coordination of regional all-hazard planning for catastrophic events, including the development of plans, protocols and procedures to manage regional planning for terrorist attacks and other catastrophic events.

Transit Security Grant Program—more than $200 million to owners and operators of transit systems (including intracity bus, commuter bus, ferries, and all forms of passenger rail) to protect critical surface transportation and increase the resilience of transit infrastructure.

Freight Rail Security Grant Program (FRSGP)—$10 million to freight railroad carriers and owners and offerors of railroad cars to protect critical surface transportation infrastructure from acts of terrorism and increase the resilience of the freight rail system.

Intercity Passenger Rail (Amtrak) Program—more than $19 million to protect critical surface transportation infrastructure and the traveling public from terrorism and increase the resilience of the Amtrak rail system.

Intercity Bus Security Grant Program (IBSGP)—more than $4 million to support security measures including plans, facility security upgrades and vehicle and driver protection for fixed-route intercity and charter bus services that serve UASI jurisdictions.

Port Security Grant Program (PSGP)—more than $235 million to help protect critical port infrastructure from terrorism, enhance maritime domain awareness and strengthen risk management capabilities in order to protect against improvised explosive devices and other non-conventional weapons.

Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Grant Program—more than $14 million to support the construction or renovation of Emergency Operations Centers to improve state, local or tribal emergency management and preparedness capabilities to ensure continuity of operations during disasters.

Driver’s License Security Grant Program (DLSGP)—more than $44 million to help states and territories improve security of state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards in order to prevent terrorism, reduce fraud and enhance the reliability and accuracy of personal identification documents.

Emergency Management Performance Grants (EMPG) Program—more than $329 million to assist state and local governments in enhancing and sustaining all-hazards emergency management capabilities.

• City of Yuma, Arizona—$3,994,443 for the Yuma Full Voice and Data Integration Demonstration Project.
• San Diego Fire-Rescue, California—$3,852,580 for the Regional Command and Control Communications Tactical Border Communications Project.
• County of Washington, Maine—$3,963,163 for the Enhanced Communications Infrastructure and Partnerships for Border Security Project.
• Wayne County, Michigan—$4,000,000 for the Southeast Michigan Border Interoperability Solution Project.
• Interoperability Montana, Montana—$3,895,425 for the Northern Tier Consortium Border Interoperability Demonstration Project.
• Lake County, Ohio—$3,998,200 for the Multi-Agency, Multi-Jurisdictional U.S. Regional & International Interoperable Communications Infrastructure and Maritime Domain Awareness Project.
• City of McAllen, Texas—$1,940,000 for the Rio Grande Valley Border Interoperability Regional Project.

Funding under the BIDP can be used for equipment purchases, planning, training and conducting exercises.