Sen. Chuck Grassley said today that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has awarded $2,000,000 to Iowa to prevent agro-terrorism.
The Iowa Department of Public Defense, Emergency Management Division, will use this funding to support the Agriculture Counter-terrorism Project, which will help build an enhanced and sustainable capacity to prevent, respond to and recover from threats or acts of terrorism.
"Terrorists disrupting our food supply is a real threat," Grassley said. "This funding can help the Agriculture Counter-terrorism Project become a national model that can be used across the country to protect our food supply. As one of the leading food producing states in the country, it's critically important the Iowa use this funding to determine how best to protect its agriculture industry."
This project will initiate interstate agro-security planning initiative and model asset protection for the food supply chain. The Agriculture Counter-terrorism Project will provide the agriculture industry with effective methods for identifying vulnerabilities and developing effective security strategies. This project will promote standard asset-level security programs that compliment regional counter-terrorism programs.
The Agriculture Counter-terrorism Project will collaborate with the Multi-State Partnership for Security in Agriculture to accomplish project objectives and promote initiatives.