County wants talk with Chertoff

J. Craig Anderson

Saturday, Feb. 18, 2006 | 12:33 p.m.

Clark County officials want a crack at convincing Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that he was wrong to leave Southern Nevada off the list of communities eligible for anti-terrorism grants.

The County Commission is expected to sign a resolution Tuesday requesting an audience with Chertoff to learn more about the secret formula used to determine which cities can receive future Urban Area Security Initiative Grant funding. County officials complain that the formula is "dangerously flawed."

"How could Southern Nevada not be on the list of areas that should be subject to additional funding?" Commission Chairman Rory Reid said. "We think the Department of Homeland Security has some explaining to do."

A draft copy of the county resolution states that cutting off grant funding will place ongoing local anti-terrorism projects in jeopardy.

"Under this new formula the only eligibility criteria the Las Vegas Urban Area meets is for funding sufficient for one year expressly to allow completion of projects previously initiated," the resolution says.

"However, this community does not anticipate the completion of multiple existing, technically complex, financially significant initiatives in only one remaining year of sustainment funding." Reid said county officials deserve the opportunity to try to talk Chertoff out of his department's bad decision, or at least hear first-hand why he thinks it was not a mistake.

"Who knows? Maybe we would agree with them," Reid said.

Gov. Kenny Guinn, Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., and other top state officials already have criticized the decision and asked for a better explanation.

Chertoff said Thursday that he will give Nevada lawmakers a classified briefing on the reasons why Las Vegas is no longer among the 35 cities considered most likely targets for terrorist attacks.

However, he said the question can be answered only "to a certain degree" because the information used in the complex eligibility calculations is sensitive.

Chertoff also suggested that he is open to hearing arguments from Nevada officials explaining why Las Vegas should remain on the list. Reid and others have characterized Southern Nevada's inclusion as a no-brainer.

"There are a couple of cities in Wisconsin that are on the list," Reid said.

J. Craig Anderson can be reached at 259-2320 or at craig@lasvegassun.com.