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July 16, 2004/Tamuz 27 5764, Vol. 56, No. 43
Sites eligible for funds
MATTHEW E. BERGER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
WASHINGTON - Jewish institutions are finding new ways to get federal money to secure sites that could be targets for terrorist attacks.
While legislation to create a fund specifically for the protection of high-risk non-profit institutions lingers in Congress, Jewish commu-nities are working with states and local governments to obtain funds earmarked by the Department of Homeland Security for security up-grades.
Already, Maryland has allocated more than $200,000 for the protection of Jewish sites in the state. It is also the home of a pilot program to provide federal money for security upgrades to syna-gogues.
Recent events have shown that Jewish sites are high-risk targets for terrorist attacks, both in the United States and abroad. And as the federal government allocates money to prevent such attacks, Jewish in-stitutions are hoping to win some grants to defray the staggering cost of protecting Jewish institutions.
The Department of Home-land Security determined last month that nonprofit institutions are eligible for part of the $2 billion in grants from the department's Office of Domestic Pre-paredness. The money is given to states and municipalities for distri-bution for security measures, both for law enforcement and for the protection of public and private facilities.
That ruling came as some states were already preparing to give money to Jewish sites.
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