Homeland security funds pose challenges to Missouri

ST. LOUIS -- In the two years since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, tens of millions of dollars in federal homeland security grants have helped emergency planners in cash-strapped Missouri pay for needed equipment, enhanced training and additional workers, officials said.

But the new stream of federal revenue also is creating paperwork headaches, fueling debate over how the money should be spent.

"With this amount of money and the number of people playing in it, it does present a challenge," Tim Daniel, Missouri's homeland security chief, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for a story Wednesday. "I worry about not getting it directed at the right priorities, but so far I think we're doing well. I'm proud of our program."

Evidence of the spending includes newly hired epidemiologists now poised to chase down diseases in Missouri. And nearly all of the state's police officers soon will carry gas masks that might help them escape a chemical or biological weapons release.

"We're in a real unusual situation where the state's drowning in red ink and we're swimming in money," said Jim Wakeman, operations head of the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency, which is responsible for tracking nearly $68 million worth of grants, nearly 100 times more than his office normally monitors.

In many cases, the states are required to use the federal grants to better outfit, equip and train emergency responders and to improve their public health systems. Planned purchases include basic items such as flashlights, fire helmets and test tubes to the more elaborate, including bomb-disposal robots, thermal-imaging cameras and underwater X-ray machines.

Missouri spent nearly one-third of its $17 million bioterrorism budget to hire emergency planners, communication specialists, disease investigators and office personnel for nine regional offices.

At the same time, the state cut positions for investigators of sexually transmitted disease outbreaks -- cutbacks that could leave the public health system vulnerable if bioterrorism or a devastating natural infection occurs, public health officials said.

Some say distributing the money among dozens of local public health agencies will dilute its effectiveness. Very little of the money earmarked for improving hospital response to terrorism has trickled down to the hospitals, said Dr. Jeffrey A. Lowell, who heads the St. Louis area's emergency medical system.

"There's no quick fix surge of money that's going to cure a critically ill health care system in a year," said Pam Walker, head of the health department's emergency and terrorism response center.

Missouri is spending millions to improve emergency communication systems, with purchases including satellite and cell phones, and equipment to make it easier for emergency responders to talk to each other on different radio systems.

Missouri also plans to spend more than $1.3 million to buy 15 communication towers along Interstates 70 and 44 that could eventually form the backbone of a statewide radio system.