ABSTRACT
Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) grants have supported the high threat, densely populated, and most populous urban areas in their effort to prepare for terrorist activities. The UASI was a smaller post-9/11 follow-on to the earlier Metropolitan Medical Response System (MMRS) program in the 121 most populous American cities and regions. UASI has funded no more than 64 unique jurisdictions or regions, and has been reduced to 39 in 2014. Post-Katrina the regional approach to preparedness was mandated in recognition that disasters know no boundaries. But the mayors of the nation's largest cities were concerned that the high threat, high-density community funding was becoming “normal pork.”
