Antiterror aid to Mass. drops again

For the second year in a row, Massachusetts will see a sharp decline in the amount of federal money it receives to help cities and towns buy equipment and train emergency workers for possible terrorist attacks, according to a law enforcement official briefed by the US Department of Homeland Security.

The department is expected to announce today that Massachusetts will receive approximately $34 million in homeland security grants for first responders this fiscal year, which began last October, down from $41 million the previous fiscal year, the official said -- a decline of 17 percent.

Boston and surrounding communities will also receive less, about $14.2 million, down from $18.2 million last year, or a decline of 21.9 percent. Since 2005, Massachusetts has lost more than 40 percent of its funding.

Boston will distribute the $14.2 million throughout the metropoli tan area, while the state will distribute the rest to other regions.

The funds are part of a $1.62 billion grant package to cities and states across the country that will be unveiled today in Washington by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, the law enforcement official said.

"The funding cut is alarming and misplaced in light of the overall increase Congress gave to urban areas this year," Senator Edward M. Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, said last night in a statement provided to the Globe. "Boston relies upon this critical assistance, and it's our responsibility to ensure that our major cities have the resources they need."

US Representative Edward J. Markey, a senior member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said he will lead an effort with the state's congressional delegation to urge Chertoff to increase funding to reflect "the unique risks that we face in Massachusetts."

"I am extremely disappointed that the Department continues to exclude Boston from its list of top- tier urban areas receiving supplemental security funding," Markey said in a statement.

About 55 percent of the money will go to six areas deemed most at risk: Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., New York and New Jersey, and the San Francisco Bay area. The other 45 percent will be divided among about 40 other areas, including Boston.

Earlier this fiscal year, Massachusetts received an increase in funding for port security, from $140,000 last year to $2 million. In addition, the state received $16 million in transit security grants, up from $11 million last year, state officials said.

Since the first responder grant program began in 2002, Boston has used the money it received to purchase radios, chemical detectors, and other equipment, as well as to train police and firefighters, said Mayor Thomas M. Menino. In addition to antiterrorism efforts, the grant money can be used to train personnel to respond in natural disasters.

"It's being cut a lot, but most cities have been cut," Menino said. "We're still 13th out of the top 50 cities in terms of funding. I'm happy I got it. But next year we'll fight for more."

Last summer, homeland security grants were used to pay for Operation Poseidon, the largest antiterrorism drill ever in New England, which simulated the explosion of a radioactive bomb at the CambridgeSide Galleria. Hundreds of officers and rescue workers created a blocklong triage and decontamination center outside the mall to treat volunteers acting as shoppers exposed to the radioactivity. The Sept. 17 exercise included related episodes elsewhere in the Boston area, including a purported explosion at a home in Everett and the possible sabotage of the LNG facility in Everett.

The cuts in homeland security grants to Boston and other major urban areas caught state officials by surprise last year.

This year, officials said they worried there might be less grant money -- because the federal government has been under pressure to contain costs and has been funneling more money into other homeland security programs, specifically those designed to enhance security at the nation's ports, subways, bridges, and other infrastructure.

Russ Knocke, chief spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, would not discuss the distribution of grants before today's news conference. But he said funding generally depends on whether there are known threats to the area, how vulnerable the area is to attack, and what the national consequences would be if the area were hit.

"It's not an entitlement program, and it's not a sustainment program. It's driven by risk," Knocke said. "And we fully recognize that is something that is not always going to make everybody happy. But we believe this is the most disciplined approach in using limited tax dollars for a very important purpose."

Funding can also vary depending on how much the community received the previous year and how it was used, Knocke said.

Knocke declined to provide specific figures or detail how Massachusetts compares with other states before the grants are officially announced this afternoon. "New York and D.C., for the foreseeable future, are likely to be the tops in risk," he said.

Congress created the program after the 2001 terrorist attacks. At first only seven major cities were eligible for the funds and Boston wasn't among them.

But after the federal government bowed to pressure from lawmakers around the country, the number of cities that qualified jumped to 50.