Lawmakers propose funding for soft targets

May 1, 2004 12:00 PM

The U.S. government should provide up to $350 million to help potential “soft targets” of terrorism — like hospitals, schools and places of worship — toprotect themselves, a group of lawmakers has proposed.

The bipartisan group said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) should provide $100 million in grants and up to $250 million in low-interest loans to pay for concrete barriers, surveillance cameras and security personnel.

Legislation introduced in both the House and Senate would authorize a further $50 million in grants to local law enforcement agencies in communities where there are many high-risk non-profit groups.

Rep. George Nethercutt, a Washington Republican who introduced the bill (H.R. 4108) in the House, told Reuters that the successful deterrence of attacks on government facilities since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, may have left other possible targets more vulnerable.

“The recent [train] bombings in Madrid demonstrate that terrorists will go after the soft targets, and we have an obligation to protect community service centers,” he said.

Potential recipients of the aid include the American Red Cross, non-profit hospitals, churches, synagogues, religious schools, museums, symphony halls and theaters.

The aid would be given to those facilities deemed by Homeland security to be at highest risk, whether religious or non-religious.

“As government facilities have fortified, terrorists may turn their attention to less fortified, but equally symbolic, targets,” Nethercutt said in a speech to the House in April. “Leading non-profit organizations may become targets as an unintended consequence of our efforts.”

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