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Report Says Va. Localities Misused U.S. Security Funds
Mark R. Warner (D) was governor at the time, and former lieutenant governor John H. Hager was special assistant to the governor for commonwealth preparedness. Hager's then-deputy, George W. Foresman, took over the office in 2004. Foresman is now undersecretary for preparedness for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
In an interview yesterday, Foresman said the audit failed to take into account the frenzied atmosphere after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. "You have to put this period in context," he said. "They will find the same thing in all 50 states."
  George W. Foresman, a former homeland security official in Virginia who is now with the federal agency, said, "You have to put this period in context." (By Charlie Neibergall -- Associated Press) Blog |
Instead of assessing what localities faced the greatest threat, as required under grant guidelines, Virginia doled out its preparedness grants based on population, the report says.
In their written response to the inspector general, Virginia officials said they stand by their use of a population-based formula.
"The result of this simple analysis is that population can, in fact, reasonably be used as a surrogate for threat and target risk," the state said
Del. Beverly J. Sherwood (R-Frederick), chairman of the Militia, Police and Public Safety Committee, said the state received an influx of money after Sept. 11, so a few mistakes were bound to occur.
"A lot of that money came down very quickly," Sherwood said. "There was a short period of time to decide the needs of those localities."
The inspector general reviewed only the $53 million in grants awarded at the time by Homeland Security's Office of Domestic Preparedness. The state and local governments received an additional $200 million from other federal sources for homeland security needs in 2002 and 2003, the report says.
