The federally funded New Jersey UASI program represents a partnership among state, county and local governments to focus on detecting, deterring, responding to and recovering from threats and incidents of terrorism. It focuses on a six-county area made up of Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Morris, Passaic and Union counties, as well as on Newark and Jersey City. The program was the only homeland security initiative among a dozen state government initiatives highlighted last week at a day-long workshop sponsored by Quality New Jersey, said Attorney General Peter C. Harvey.
"We are pleased that the innovative aspects of this initiative have been recognized by Quality New Jersey," Harvey said. "We are well on our way to creating a truly integrated and regionalized program that connects all levels of government in the region in the service of better protecting the public against potential terrorist attacks. This initiative is a model of inter- and intra-government cooperation in the service of a very important cause."
Funded with $43.9 million in federal homeland security grants in the past two fiscal years, the UASI program has focused on developing a regionalized first responder force that is capable of responding anywhere in the region to a terrorist incident. Additionally, the initiative has provided resources to "harden" various critical facilities that might be attractive targets for terrorists. The six-county area accounts for 44 percent of the state's population and contains more than one-third of the state's most critical infrastructure sites as identified by the New Jersey Domestic Security Preparedness Task Force, the state's homeland security policy-setting and implementation body.
Harvey, who chairs the Task Force, said the success of the initiative is directly attributable to the unprecedented cooperation and collaboration of the UASI Working Group, which is made up of state and local representatives of a number of agencies.
Each of the six counties has its own working group, made up of a cross-section of county and local officials, that provides representation to the entire initiative. The initiative cuts across all of the first responder disciplines, including firefighters, emergency medical services personnel, hazardous materials response teams and law enforcement. Statewide, the Domestic Security Preparedness Task Force has developed county working groups in each of the state's 21 counties.
Harvey noted that New Jersey's UASI program is just one important part of the state's larger integrated homeland security planning initiatives.
