The chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., who was instrumental in creating DHS, said that while the report "makes some good points, the story of the Department of Homeland Security’s grants program is far more positive than this report would suggest."
"For many years, I have urged the Department to develop a set of performance measures to systematically gauge the effectiveness of its grants programs. But I also know from real world experience that these grants make a big difference in state and local preparations for, and response to, natural and man-made disasters," Lieberman said in a statement.
"The grants, for example, have helped improve first responder communications between different jurisdictions and levels of government – a lesson learned from the 9/11 attacks when scores of New York City fire fighters died because of poor communications. Grants have also strengthened regional fusion centers, which have played key roles in breaking up terrorist plots in North Carolina, Massachusetts, and Washington," he said.
However, he said for example that FEMA must do a better job of tracking homeland security grants to determine where and how response capabilities are improved.
