Virginia receives Homeland Security funds
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced that Virginia has received $16.8 million in Homeland Security Grant Program funds, 50 percent less than the Commonwealth received last year. This year, the Homeland Security Grant Program allocated funds using a competitive process along with a risked-based formula. Peer review teams reviewed each state's proposal to determine effectiveness, and this was incorporated with each state's relative risk to determine funding levels. In past years, funds were allocated based on risk and population.

Virginia's proposal was developed with input from local and state governments, nonprofit organizations and others from diverse areas of the Commonwealth. The proposal identified statewide and regional projects that will improve Virginia's capabilities to plan for and respond to man-made and natural emergencies. Once the funding award becomes official (expected by the end of June), Virginia has 60 days to determine which projects to fund and to what level. The funds will be distributed to localities on a regional basis as opposed to specific allotments to each locality as in the past.

2006 hurricane forecast updated
The June update of the 2006 forecast of Atlantic hurricane season activity is now available online. The forecast, developed by the Tropical Meteorology Project staff at Colorado State University, is unchanged from the initial forecast issued in December 2005. Although the CSU meteorologists call for another above-average season, they predict fewer major hurricanes than occurred in 2004 and 2005. According to the forecast, the next hurricane season will produce 17 named storms, nine hurricanes and five intense hurricanes. The probability for at least one Category 3, 4 or 5 hurricane landfall on the East Coast is 69 percent, 38 points over the average for the last century. The tropical meteorology research group from CSU's Department of Atmospheric Science issues a hurricane forecast in early December and updates it in April, June, August, September and October.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Hurricane Center issued its first hurricane season forecast in May, calling for an 80 percent chance of an above-normal hurricane season, including up to 16 named storms, 10 hurricanes and six major hurricanes.

CEDAP awards
The Department of Homeland Security has announced more than $20 million in awards to more than 1,100 local police and fire departments nationwide, including 21 in Virginia, part of the second phase of the FY05 Commercial Equipment Direct Assistance Program. CEDAP provides equipment, technology and training assistance that first responders and law enforcement agencies in smaller jurisdictions, rural areas and eligible metropolitan areas might otherwise have difficulty obtaining. Resources include: personal protective equipment; rescue tools; thermal imaging, night vision and video surveillance tools; chemical, biological and radiological detection tools; information technology and risk management tools; and interoperable communications gateways. The competitive program is a direct assistance program and not a grant program.

Paulison confirmed
The U.S. Senate confirmed R. David Paulison as undersecretary for Federal Emergency Management on May 26. He has served as the acting director for FEMA since September 2005. Paulison was appointed director of the Preparedness Division of the Emergency Preparedness & Response Directorate at FEMA in 2003 and continues to serve as the administrator for the U.S. Fire Administration, a position to which he was appointed in December 2001. Before joining FEMA, Paulison, who has 30 years of fire rescue services experience, was chief of the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department. He also oversaw the county's emergency management office.

Web tools for first responders
The Department of Homeland Security has established three Web sites to help first responders learn about best practices and equipment:

• The System Assessment and Validation for Emergency Responders Program, a national resource that will assist emergency responders in performing their duties. The SAVER Program provides high quality, impartial, operationally relevant evaluations and validations of critical emergency responder equipment and systems and provides these results in an operationally useful format. Volunteer state and local operators around the country conduct testing and evaluation to ensure coordination with responders needs. The program's Web site is available free of charge to all responders.
• The Responder Knowledge Base site, designed to support SAVER, is a database of products, vendors, standards organizations, training facilities and grant-making organizations for emergency responders to learn about equipment for many areas, including communications, medicine, detection and decontamination, and personal protection.
• The LLIS site is a database of theory and practice documents, including after-action reports; best practices; lists of homeland security exercises, events and conferences; a directory of responders and homeland security officials by functional expertise; and secure e-mail and message boards. The site recently added hurricane preparedness content, including congressional testimonies and hearings from Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana documents, after-action reports and official government lessons learned.

All three sites contain "For Official Use Only" and sensitive information through encryption, applicant verification and usernames/passwords. Those currently registered through RKB have immediate privileges on the SAVER Web site.

NRP Notice of Change
The Department of Homeland Security has released a Notice of Change to the National Response Plan, which identifies locations in the December 2004 version of the NRP where changes have been made. Later this year, the NRP will undergo an extensive review and be re-issued.

Produced by the Virginia Department of Emergency Management
10501 Trade Court, Richmond, Virginia 23236