The fiscal year 2007 grant program announced by DHS today includes changes to the distribution of funding for the UASI program.

DHS released the fiscal year 2007 grant guidance and application kits for five grant programs that will total roughly $1.7 billion in funding for state and local counterterrorism efforts. Of this, $746.9 million is allocated for the Urban Area Security Initiative with nearly 55% earmarked for six cities identified as the highest risk "Tier 1" Urban Areas. The Metro Boston Homeland Security Region falls in to the "Tier 2" category and is eligible to compete with 38 other cities for a portion of the remaining 45%.

Dear CIS members,

The Tactical Interoperability Communication Scorecard Report was released by DHS today for each of the 75 urban/metropolitan areas within the U.S.

The scorecard assesses a region's level of maturity for Governance, SOPs, and Usage elements of the SAFECOM Interoperability Continuum. The Boston UASI Region scored with "Established Implementation" (3 out of 4 quarters) in each of the three areas, which I believe is both a fair assessment and one to be proud of because of the great work you all have done.

Boston area receives second highest score of "Established Implementation" in all three categories (Governance, SOPs, and Usage) of the Tactical Interoperability Communications Assessment which was released by the Department of Homeland Security today.

Four UASI regions: San Diego, CA; National Capital Region (DC, Maryland, and Virginia); Twin Cities (St. Paul & Minneapolis); and Columbus, OH receive the highest score of "Advanced Implementation" in all three categories.

Download the complete Tactical Interoperable Communications Scorecards: Summary Report and Findings or view the scorecard results by state area on the DHS website.