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Gibbons Commends Dhs For Thorough Assessment And
Evaluation Of Risk
Governor Jim Gibbons announced that the city of
Las Vegas has returned to the list of 46
high-risk urban areas eligible for the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Urban
Area Security Initiative funding.
“Nearly 38.2 million tourists visit Las Vegas
each year and 18 of the world’s 20 busiest
hotels are located there as well. McCarran
International Airport is the 5th
busiest airport in North America as far as
passengers served
and the 5th busiest in the
world for take-offs and landings. The 2000
census puts Clark County’s population at just
under 1.4 million and with Nevada’s tremendous
population boom, we can be sure that number has
grown exponentially,”
said Governor Gibbons. “I am pleased to
see that Las Vegas has returned to the list and
that it will once again be
considered for this very important grant
funding.”
As a Congressman, Gibbons was instrumental in
calling on DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff to
more carefully review the oversights that
resulted in Las Vegas being left off the list in
2006. As a senior member of the House Homeland
Security Committee, Gibbons addressed Secretary
Chertoff during Committee hearings and brought
the state’s concerns with the funding formulas
to his attention.
In addition to questioning Chertoff, Gibbons
also met with the Secretary and DHS staff behind
closed doors to further review Las Vegas’ risk
assessment. Following the meeting, Gibbons was
assured by Chertoff that the data would be
closely reevaluated.
“This is great news,”
said Nevada Department of Homeland Security
Director Lawrence Martines. “The federal
government had looked at Las Vegas as a city
with a population of a half-million, which
ignored a million people in surrounding Clark
County. A lot of Nevadans fought hard to
correct that mistake, including Senator Harry
Reid and Congressman Jim Gibbons, who demanded
accuracy in the survey. Thanks to the hard work
of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department,
and of my predecessor, Giles Vanderhoof and the
people at Nevada’s Homeland Security Department,
that accuracy was achieved and now Las Vegas is
eligible for the security funding it deserves.” |
