Friday, Jan. 7, 2005 | 9:09 a.m.
The UNLV Institute for Security Studies has been tapped to head up a statewide vulnerability assessment to assist law enforcement and emergency agencies in better identifying where federal homeland security dollars are best spent.
The Nevada State Homeland Security Commission on Thursday unanimously voted to ask the institute's executive director, Lee Van Arsdale, to head up the assessment that commissioners say is long overdue.
"We're 2 1/2 years behind where we should be on this project," said Jerry Keller, commission vice-chair and vice president of security for Wynn Resorts. "I think that there is a lot of information out there that has already been gathered, and we just need to bring it together."
Van Arsdale said that the Institute would discuss with the commission the opportunity to help with such an assessment.
"The institute can serve as the choreographer to bring all this data and expertise together to get this done," Van Arsdale said. "We're happy to talk about it and do what we can to help the state."
Commission Chairman Dr. Dale Carrison said that he plans to meet with Van Arsdale, Sheriff Bill Young and other key authorities early next week to try to iron out guidelines for exactly what the commission wants in the study.
Carrison said that the assessment has to evaluate all of the state's vulnerabilities from buildings and infrastructure to communications and numbers of first responders.
Keller said that he would like to see the assessment completed in time to allow it to be used in allocating 2005 homeland security funds.
That may not be possible because of a funding timeline that will likely require the $28 million in federal funds that the state has received to be allocated by the end of March. About $8.5 million of the federal monies are already slated to go directly to Clark County as part of the Urban Area Security Initiative.
The commission set a flexible 60-day deadline on the study in the hopes that it can be done before the commission is forced to allocate the 2005 funds. The commission also voted to use the assessment as a reference for 2006 funds if it is not completed quickly enough to be used this year.
While giving a presentation to the commission Thursday about how to conduct an assessment, James Sudderth, a program manager with Bechtel Nevada Corp., said that an assessment that takes a macroview of the state could be completed within a couple of months.
If the Institute for Security Studies agrees to head up the assessment it is likely that Bechtel could be subcontracted to help in gathering data and evaluating vulnerabilities. Bechtel already works closely with UNLV in providing training for high-ranking emergency officials such as Young.
Bechtel is the primary contractor at the Nevada Test Site, which houses the National Nuclear Security Administration's counterterrorism program. The program is one of nine across the country involved in counterterrorism training for emergency responders, officials with the National Nuclear Security Administration said.
The commission has set aside $500,000 in federal grant money to pay for an assessment, and Sen. Dennis Nolan, R-Las Vegas, a nonvoting member of the commission, said that the Legislature could be lobbied for more funds if they are needed.
Keller said that he felt $500,000 was enough to conduct a first-level assessment that gives the state the big picture it needs when it comes to homeland security.
"If it can't be done in two months for half a million dollars when we know that 90 percent of the information is already out there then we have the wrong team doing it," Keller said.
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