If the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) wants to hand out money in support of bomb squads, emergency manager Ed Atkins is more than happy to take it. FEMA calls it a national priority, part of a new emphasis on defending against improvised explosive devices (IED). Atkins calls it a boon that supports local needs.

"There have been bomb threats long before the current war on terror, so we would have needed equipment upgrades eventually in any case, either to keep capabilities current or to expand them," said Atkins, director of the Chester County, Pa., Department of Emergency Services. "But without the federal money, we wouldn't be able to get as much stuff or as high a quality stuff."

Atkins also heads the Southeast Regional Task Force, a homeland security body that includes the Philadelphia Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) region.

Atkins is not alone. Nationwide, security directors are seeking ways to put UASI grant money to serve their existing local needs.

FEMA's High Priorities

In fiscal 2008, the UASI program will dole out $782 million in grants to build capabilities in high-threat, high-density urban areas across the country. The seven highest-risk areas will receive a combined total of $430 million, and 53 high-risk, urban areas will receive $352 million.

The money will go to defend UASI regions against threats deemed a high priority by FEMA guidance. Simultaneously regional security leaders will look for dovetail issues -- local needs that fit comfortably into the national guidance that UASI grant money can legitimately support.

In King County, Wash., Homeland Security Program Manager Rich Tokarzewski worries about providing shelter for displaced people. It's always a concern because of the wind, ice and snowstorms that frequently push people out of their homes.

After Hurricane Katrina, FEMA's UASI guidance emphasized on these kinds of concerns. Tokarzewski promptly put the money to use by installing wiring at shelters to accommodate modular, transportable power supplies. "We always have a wish list, but then the feds have their ideas year after year of what they want to see the nation focus on," Tokarzewski said. When the two come together, it's a good day for all parties.

The point is a subtle one. UASI grants, by their nature, are designed to meet specific local and regional needs, but there's much latitude in how those needs are met. "Because each region is different in so many ways, [the U.S. Department of Homeland Security] has factored in flexibility to allow us to develop our programs unique to our own region," Amy Bolton, the public affairs officer of the Arizona Department of Homeland Security, wrote in an e-mail.

For instance, consider the current emphasis on IEDs. While FEMA has made it a priority, the only specific requirement is that grantees must use at least 25 percent of their grant money toward this purpose.

Even within that broad dictum, grantees have further latitude. The official guidance requires only that states and urban areas "should begin by implementing programs such as enhancing public- and private-sector IED awareness and reducing critical infrastructure/key resource and soft-target, explosive attack vulnerabilities."

That covers much ground, giving UASI grantees wide latitude to put grant money toward their highest priorities. In Pierce County, Wash., the UASI program's flexibility has allowed the region to buy much-needed aircraft, according to Department of Emergency Management Director Steve C. Bailey.

"This area, which is more than 3 million people, has no cohesive regional aviation assets," Bailey said. Thanks to UASI grants, the area has purchased one helicopter, upgraded another and purchased a fixed-wing aircraft -- all of which the county sorely needed with or without UASI support.

"While the focus was always on terrorism, we saw an opportunity there to make the region more resilient for