New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is calling on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to release funding to help secure the city after a mass shooting in Midtown Manhattan on Monday.
In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Hochul demanded the release of Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) funding through the Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP). Noem said UASI funding could help build intelligence analysis capacity within the NYPD that would enable surge capacity when new threats are identified and allow the NYPD to provide federal law enforcement partners with intelligence collection and analysis capacity during large National Special Security events. UASI also support security initiatives throughout Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk counties.
Eliminating the funding, which was more than $156.1 million for New York in 2024, would make New Yorkers less safe while the city remains a high-level target for acts of violence.
“Your Department has long recognized that densely populated urban areas constitute a specific and unique target for acts of terrorism and targeted violence, and that there are unique needs and challenges to securing them safely. However, under your watch the Department of Homeland Security has failed to release the funding for the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI),” Hochul wrote. “We know from public reporting that Acting FEMA Administrator David Richardson sent a memo to the White House that you approved recommending the elimination of UASI. In that memo, the Acting Administrator admitted that eliminating this funding would result in ‘a less secure nation, especially at the border and in some of the nation’s most targeted cities, including Miami, Washington DC, and Dallas…’ New York City is this nation’s most targeted city when it comes to terrorism threats.”
Hochul said that DHS had released several homeland security grants on the same day as the attack, but those grants did not include UASI funding the state expected to receive that was specifically designed to protect American urban terrorist targets.
“Further delays in the release of UASI will degrade our nation’s ability to protect our urban centers including our ability to keep New Yorkers safe,” Hochul wrote. “I urge you to fulfill your duty to protect all Americans and to release UASI funding immediately.”