Chertoff said the grant program wasn't set up as a permanent federal funding program but as a temporary means for eliminating "vulnerabilities" all over the country and helping prevent and prepare for attacks. In future years, he said, the department will review how the money is spent and whether the quality of requests has diminished.
"We don't want to define homeland security so broadly that it ceases to have the discipline" of the current funding program, he said. He made clear that while the government is not investigating any "imminent threat," a number of hot spots in the world, such as in the tribal regions of Pakistan, "continue to cause us great concern."
Alexandra Podolny, associate director of policy and training at the University of Maryland's Center for Health and Homeland Security, said less money this year will equate to "having less money to keep Marylanders safe."
