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Homeland Security in Louisiana
"It's a daunting task"

Tracking and coordination of funds difficult

Advocate, The (Baton Rouge, LA)
May 30, 2004
Author: JOHN McMILLAN
Estimated printed pages: 5

A river of federal counterterrorism funds - about $220 million or more - has flowed into Louisiana agencies during the past two years, much of the money from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Additional budget increases boosted the funds available to combat terrorism for a number of federal offices within the state, and counterterrorism has become a priority of the FBI.

But tracking the millions of federal dollars in counterterrorism funds that are being spent in Louisiana - and the disbursement of those funds - is difficult.

"It's a daunting task," Joanne Moreau, director of the East Baton Rouge Office of Homeland Security and Office of Emergency Preparedness, recently told the Louisiana Senate Select Committee on Homeland Security.

She asked the committee for help.

"We need a one-stop shop where we are not parochial. To do this will take state involvement," Moreau told the committee.

"A committee needs to know from the federal government what money is coming into Louisiana. We need to maximize the money. We don't need to be parochial," she said, indicating some agencies are "guarding the funding program and that is not good for our security."

Senators on the committee were astounded there is no central source to track counterterrorism funds.

"I see money coming to Louisiana, but who controls it?" asked committee Chairman Sen. Robert Barham, R- Oak Ridge.

"There's no agency that oversees this?" asked Sen. Gerry Theunissen, R-Jennings. "We're lost if we aren't able to communicate. Something needs to be done."

Moreau, whose Baton Rouge office was visited by representatives from New York who wanted to use it as a model, told the committee, "We need to look at what we are buying (with Homeland Security funds).

"If someone else has it, I don't need to buy it. We need your help. We need a center where small communities can go for help," Moreau said.

"Someone needs to be a clearing house for all these funds," Barham said, "to track money coming into the state so we don't duplicate efforts."

A survey of various agencies indicates the agency receiving the single largest amount of federal counterterrorism funds is, naturally enough, the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Office of Emergency Preparedness, which is one office with two branches.

In the past two years, the Department of Homeland Security has allocated $89 million to that office, said Col. Jay Mayeaux, the state's director of homeland security. Another $51 million was approved for 2004, Mayeaux said.

The objectives of the homeland security office, run by the National Guard, are to prevent terrorist attacks within Louisiana, reduce Louisiana's vulnerability to terrorism and to minimize the damage and recover from attacks that might occur, according to its strategic planning statements.

And 80 percent of all homeland security funding for Louisiana is distributed among the 64 parishes in the state, with the amount based on a formula involving population, vulnerability and other factors, Mayeaux said.

Currently, some Louisiana agencies receive federal anti-terrorism funds.

In 2003, $19.9 million was allocated to port security in Louisiana. In addition, the Port of New Orleans received a supplemental grant of $10.9 million.

The Port of Greater Baton Rouge, the ninth-largest in the nation, has received $1.65 million from DHS to beef up its defenses. Additional funds have been applied for, and the port has spent $1 million in its own money to make the port less vulnerable to terrorist attacks, said Roger Richard, executive director of the port.

LSU is another big player in counterterrorism efforts.

The university is home to the National Center for Security Research and Training, which receives about $60 million annually from the federal government. The bulk of that money comes from DHS, the U.S. Justice Department, the U.S. State Department, the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Public Health.

The State Police Emergency Operations Center is funded in part by an $8.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense. The center is adjacent to the Louisiana Homeland Security Center but operates independently from it with "mutual support."

The state Department of Health and Hospitals has received more than $24 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to enhance public health bioterrorism preparedness and response efforts.

Another asset is the National Guard's 62nd Civil Support Team based at Carville. The Department of Defense provides about $1 million annually in operational funds for the team, which now has between $5 million and $6 million worth of equipment designed to combat terrorism.

Fire departments have not been left out of the funding sweepstakes. The U.S. Fire Administration, an agency now within DHS, has provided about 150 fire departments in Louisiana with more than $21 million since Sept. 11, 2001. The funds primarily were used to upgrade equipment.

Largely through the efforts of U.S. Rep. Richard Baker, R-Baton Rouge, the Southern Anti-terrorism Regional Training Academy has received $6.5 million in federal funds. Also known as SARTA, the academy was created as a joint effort of the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office and the Louisiana National Guard after Sept. 11, 2001. Since May 2003, more than 1,000 law enforcement officers have trained with SARTA, which is situated at the Guard's Carville headquarters and the sheriff's training facility in Gonzales.

The majority of those trained at SARTA are Louisiana law-enforcement officers. Other trainees have come from seven states and also multiple federal agencies. Members of the U.S. Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force also have trained at SARTA, officials said.

While the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security apparently is well-regarded by DHS, not everyone thinks that office should be the lead state homeland security agency.

The National Sheriffs' Association is of the opinion that law enforcement should be in charge of homeland security rather than the agencies that have that assignment. In Louisiana, that agency is the Office of Homeland Security, which also oversees the Office of Emergency Preparedness and the Federal Emergency Management Agency program.

"The emphasis through FEMA and OEP is not the best place for homeland security and not the best place for homeland security money to be prioritized," said Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre, a vice president of the National Sheriffs' Association.

"In a disaster, you have the response period. Response historically is the job of law enforcement and emergency medical services. The other side of a disaster is recovery. Recovery is the function of FEMA and OEP," Webre said. "

Our position is that FEMA is not the best place for response, but for recovery," Webre said.

"I'm not criticizing Homeland Security, but it would have been more appropriately the law-enforcement community rather than the recovery community (to be the lead agency)," Webre said.

Both FEMA and OEP are agencies under the National Guard in Louisiana.

"We have a man of integrity at the helm in Gen. Bennett Landreneau (Louisiana National Guard commander), but I still believe the structure of homeland security, the priority and funding, should have gone to law enforcement in prevention and response instead of FEMA, which is more recovery oriented," said Webre.

"I don't think we defined specific goals and tasks and initiatives that are going to contribute to homeland security in a meaningful way.

"There could be a change within several years. There may be some event that says this structure is not a successful structure. The National Sheriffs' Association would be there to offer its input into a different structure," Webre said.

"If they are going to boost spending in homeland security, then other spending is going to be reduced. We have to make sure we don't cripple agencies that function well. Grant writers and others who are astute will catch on (to how to achieve funding). We could be buying duct tape by the truckload.

"We have all this money and nobody knows who's going to get it, and how it is going to be spent. In the next couple of years, I think we're going to see the structure redefined," Webre said.

St. James Parish Sheriff Willy Martin, the president of the Louisiana Sheriffs' Association, and Ascension Parish Sheriff Jeff Wiley agreed with Webre.

"In some states, sheriffs don't have full jurisdiction like we do," Martin said, which may have accounted for the structural design of homeland security. Martin also was concerned with the loss of funding to sheriffs which could hurt programs such as drug enforcement by local sheriffs.

In Pennsylvania, where Tom Ridge, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, was governor, sheriffs serve as tax collectors and jailers, Wiley said. That may have had some influence on the structure of homeland security, Wiley said.

"There was some sense behind it," Wiley said, "but sometimes the sheriffs and OEP are not on the same page. When the plan was first laid out, sheriffs weren't mentioned. We had to figure out our roles.

"In Louisiana, with sheriffs being the chief law enforcement officer in a parish - except in New Orleans - they (the National Guard) realized sheriffs had something to offer. They had a relationship with OEP because of hurricanes and natural disasters," Wiley said.

Wiley, as Webre, thinks sheriffs will have a larger role in administering counterterrorism funds.

"Ultimately, I think there will be a structural change in homeland security," Wiley said