 "Illinois has always been a national leader in the field of homeland
security, and this high rating represents the fact that Illinois
applies innovative approaches and good stewardship in the
application of scarce homeland security resources," Quinn said. "The
safety of our citizens is paramount, and we will continue our
efforts to enhance preparedness for all types of threats and
hazards."FEMA used peer reviewers from around the country to
review each state's homeland security preparedness efforts, focusing
on accomplishments, homeland security strategy, development of
investment justifications and use of homeland security funding to
build response capabilities to confront threats.
"This exceptional ranking truly demonstrates the strength and
effectiveness of Illinois' homeland security program," said Andrew
Velasquez III, director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency
and the state's homeland security adviser. "Our homeland security
strategy has received best-practice recognition for several reasons,
including our organizational structure and philosophy, the
establishment of special response teams, and a very robust mutual
aid system."
Illinois' homeland security strategy is developed and implemented
by the Illinois Terrorism Task Force. The task force was created
nearly 10 years ago, and today its membership includes more than 60
agencies, organizations and municipalities that represent emergency
management, law enforcement, fire services, public health and other
response disciplines from throughout Illinois. The 15 committees of
the task force focus on various components of the state's homeland
security plan, such as crisis response and prevention, technology,
training, and communications.
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The task force also determines how the state's share of federal
homeland security funds should be used to enhance emergency
preparedness and response throughout Illinois. Since 1999, the state
has received more than $374 million in federal homeland security
grants.
For fiscal 2009, Illinois' homeland security program received
nearly $33.8 million from the federal Homeland Security Grant
Program. Velasquez said that the Illinois Terrorism Task Force will
use the funding to maintain the nation's most comprehensive mutual
aid system and continue to equip and train more than 90
interoperable statewide fire, law enforcement and medical deployable
response teams. Other task force initiatives to be funded with the
fiscal 2009 allocation are grants to support the expansion of local
emergency operations centers; procurement of additional Starcom21
portable radios for deployment to local, regional and statewide
emergencies; support of local, regional and statewide homeland
security exercises; and enhancements to the Statewide Terrorism and
Intelligence Center.
[Text from news release from
the governor's office]
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