Wisconsin Watch Media Partners Center (https://partners.wisconsinwatch.org/tag/911/)
Every year, state and local agencies in Wisconsin perform multiple exercises to test emergency response capabilities, funded by federal homeland security grants created after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
In this collaborative project, the Center and Gannett Wisconsin Media explore the question: A decade after 9/11, are we safer? With a three-part series, regional stories from Gannett’s newspapers, interactive multimedia and more.
Federal funding to protect key infrastructure grew after the 9/11 attacks, but has declined as overall homeland security funding has dropped sharply in Wisconsin. That has forced a shift in strategy away from protecting sites to responding more effectively if man-made or natural disasters occur. Part 2 of 3 in the series “Security after 9/11: 10 Years Later.”
Federal funding for much of the state’s homeland security effort, designed to prepare and protect Wisconsin in the event of terrorist attacks and other emergencies, is being drastically cut as Congress focuses on states that are more likely terrorism targets.