The federal government has released some $500,000 to help the city of Denver prevent nuclear and radiological terror attacks — money that city officials say was wrongfully withheld by the Trump administration earlier this year.
The money from the “Securing the Cities” program only started flowing after the city joined a lawsuit against the federal government last month.
“With the Trump administration, I’m not confident the fight ever ends, but this is good news,” said Jon Ewing, a spokesperson for Mayor Mike Johnston. “We don’t want to be mothballing equipment that can detect radioactive materials. This is terrific news.”
The city had put a $263,000 detection unit in storage instead of taking it to public events; paused repairs on other radiation detectors; and canceled training events for local officials.
The city of Chicago, another beneficiary of the national program, originally filed the lawsuit in May. It was later joined by Denver, Boston, San Francisco and Seattle.
The lawsuit alleged that the Trump administration had unconstitutionally cut funding for Securing the Cities. The congressionally funded program helps Denver and 12 other cities pay for equipment, supplies and training to prevent nuclear and radiological terror attacks.
In the past, the federal program would send cities reimbursements within a matter of days for their terror prevention costs. But city officials say those reimbursement grants were cut off in February.
“This is abnormal; this is not business as usual,” Ewing said.
The money started flowing again soon after Denver joined the lawsuit in June, which resulted in local news coverage and an article in Politico.
“Once it made its way into the public sphere, the money started again,” Ewing said.
The mayor’s office didn’t initially publicize the resumption of funding, with Ewing saying the city wanted to ensure that the program really was back to normal. The city has now received all the funding it expected.
The “faucet turned back on and we’ve now received the reimbursements we were promised,” Ewing wrote in a text to Denverite. “As a result, we plan to restart trainings and complete repairs on equipment.”
The city of Seattle also received about $104,000 of overdue funds on June 25, but the federal government did not resume funding for equipment purchases through the program, according to Seattle’s city attorney. Seattle has put a $1.1 million purchase of detention equipment on hold and can’t make any further purchases, city officials said.
The Department of Homeland Security didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did it comment when Denver joined the lawsuit last month. Spokespeople for the other cities in the lawsuit did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
