Ritter reorganizes Homeland Security

Sloppy accounting, faulty structure dog state's efforts

Ann Imse, Rocky Mountain News

Published July 13, 2007 at midnight

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Gov. Bill Ritter restructured the state's Homeland Security operation Thursday, saying it is currently "too diffused to handle a serious terror incident in Colorado."

Ritter's action follows earlier federal audits that blasted the state for its sloppy accounting of $130 million in Homeland Security grants.

The reorganization also comes after Colorado lost two-thirds of its guaranteed federal Homeland Security grants, which means the state must find its own funding to pay for staff.

On Thursday, Mason Whitney was named new Homeland Security coordinator.

The governor's new team also consists of Joanne Hill, who will review Homeland Security grant administration, and Kent Smiley, who will write a plan for how Colorado will continue governing in case of a terrorist attack.

Nearly six years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Colorado still has no such plan, said Evan Dreyer, Ritter's spokesman.

Audits have uncovered other problems:

In 2006, the state was told it had to repay the federal government $1.5 million in funds improperly given to South Metro Fire District to house a new state emergency operations center.

A 2005 state audit found that 13 percent of $15.8 million in state grants may have been misspent on items such as office space and a bus.

When the Rocky Mountain News asked to see the documentation of how the state spent it millions of dollars in homeland security grants in 2005, the Department of Local Affairs blacked out much of the detail, even after passage of a new law opening up those records to public scrutiny.

In a statement Thursday, the governor said current Homeland Security duties are spread among two departments and a committee, and "this structure is inadequate and the responsibilities too diffused to handle a serious terror incident in Colorado."

He's also concerned about money.

Colorado's federal Homeland Security grants are dropping from $21 million for 2006 to a minimum of $7.5 million for 2007, according to a federal Web site.

To get more than $7.5 million, Colorado and Denver officials must write competitive grant proposals that beat out those of other states and cities.

In the past, funding came in the form of guaranteed block grants.

Dreyer said the state expects to hear soon whether it has won any additional money.

One strike against Colorado is its past performance with grants.

State and federal audits in 2005 were highly critical of the state's troubles in tracking whether $130 million in grants since 2002 were actually spent as promised.

The federal Department of Homeland Security is currently conducting another audit.

Federal authorities want to see Homeland Security grants spent to improve security in places that are the likeliest targets of terrorism. That could mean that most money goes to the Denver area.

Former Gov. Bill Owens spread the money across the state, allowing nine regions to set their top priorities for grant funds.

As a result, the sparsely populated San Luis Valley received $122 per person from 2001 to 2005, double the per-capita federal grant to New York City, a far likelier target of terrorist attacks.

Governor's new team

Ritter's Homeland Security coordinator

• Retired Maj. Gen. Mason Whitney, head of Colorado National Guard, 2000-07; member of the governor's Emergency Response Committee, as vice chairman of the All Hazards Senior Advisory Committee, member of the governor's Expert Epidemic Emergency Response Committee.

• Pay: $120,000, one-year contract.

• Job: Oversee policy and strategy, federal grants, and coordinate with legislature and private sector. Reports to governor.

Homeland Security grant coordinator

• Joanne Hill, state auditor, 2001-06; now director, the National Nuclear Security Administration Audits Division in the Department of Energy's office of inspector general.

• Pay: $107,000, one-year contract.

• Job: Examine Homeland Security grant standards and audits and evaluate compliance with law.

Governor's aide on continuity of operations and government

• Kent Smiley, now safety programs director for Denver's technology department.

• Pay: $100,000 a year.

• Job: Revise plans to keep state government operating in a disaster.

Director of the Colorado Division of Emergency Management (previously announced)

• Chris Olson, Englewood safety director, 1997-2007.

• Job: Coordinate state response to disasters.

imsea@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5438

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