Boston Council Hears Divided Testimony on Federal Homeland Security Grant Renewal

BOSTON — March 27, 2025 — Boston City Council committee scrutinizes $13.3 million federal Homeland Security grant amid civil liberties concerns. The Committee on Public Safety and Criminal Justice, chaired by at-large Councillor Henry Santana, held a March 27 hearing on docket 0413 examining the Urban Area Security Initiative grant and related federal funding administered by the Office of Emergency Management. Ryan Walsh, Director of the Boston Regional Intelligence Center, said the BRIC receives approximately $2 million from the grant annually, about 22 percent of its budget, covering 12 full-time personnel including eight intelligence analysts. Office of Emergency Management Assistant Deputy Chief Andrew Blanais disclosed that 16 of his office's 19 staff are 90 percent federally grant-funded. Fatima Ahmed of the Muslim Justice League, citing 400 pages of public records showing twice-daily BRIC surveillance reports on Palestine protests, called the grant "essentially a Trojan horse" that ties emergency response funding to mandatory fusion center and surveillance spending. ACLU of Massachusetts Director Cade Crockford and researcher Allie Finn of Kairos Action testified that Boston has spent between 48 and 57 percent of recent UASI grants on law enforcement terrorism prevention activities, far above the 35 percent federal floor, with total surveillance-linked spending potentially reaching $7 million in a single grant year.