TerrorissmDHS raises Phoenix’s terror-risk ranking

Published 19 July 2013

DHS has raised Phoenix’s terrorist risk assessment three spots, from number eighteen to number fifteen. The change will entitle the city to $5.5 million in a federal security grant, $1.5 million more than it received from the same grant last year.

DHS has raised Phoenix’s terrorist risk assessment three spots, from number eighteen to number fifteen, and the change will entitle the city to $5.5 million in a federal security grant, $1.5 million more than it  received from the same grant last year.

Arizona Centralnotes Phoenix councilman Daniel Valenzuela, Phoenix mayor Greg Stanton, and the city Emergency Management coordinator Scott Krushak traveled to Washington, D.C. with several other city officials to meet with former DHS secretary Janet Napolitano earlier this year to discuss an increase in the city’s terror-risk ranking, arguing  DHS had underestimate the potential dangers in the city. .

Officials noted that the city’s proximity to the Mexican border and the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, the largest nuclear-powered electrical-generating facility in the country, made the city a potential target for terrorists.

Stanton noted, though, that the city is not vulnerable to anymore threats than it was in the past.

“Nothing has changed to make us a riskier place. We just wanted better acknowledgment of where we should have been ranked all along,” Stanton told AZ Central.

DHS ranks the top twenty-five high risk urban areas every year based on population, border crossings, infrastructure, and information from the FBI.

The higher a city is ranked, the more money it receives from DHS through the Urban Areas Security Initiative, a grant program allocating money to help cities prevent, respond to, and recover from potential terrorist attacks.

“While we would like to say we don’t have high risk, it’s more important to be realistic,” Valenzuela said. “It’s important that our ranking accurately reflects the security risk in our area.”

“We felt that we were not ranked where we needed to be ranked,” Valenzuela added. “Some people may say it’s bad because there’s some potential risk, but at least now we are getting the necessary funding.”

A City Council report drafted by Krushak, Fire Chief Bob Khan, and Police Chief Daniel Garcia says the money will be divided up among departments to buy new equipment, set up emergency response programs, and “to implement target-hardening measures to protect critical infrastructure.”