Trump's Department of Homeland Security cancels $46 million UAA grant, then cancels cancellation
The federal Department of Homeland Security canceled a $46 million, 10-year grant to the University of Alaska Anchorage Tuesday.
The UAA grant was for a "Center of Excellence for Homeland Security in the Arctic.”
“While based in Anchorage, the proposal incorporates UAF and UAS researchers, as well as numerous partnering universities, national labs, business and industry members, and other DHS Centers of Excellence,” UAA said before the grant was issued in 2024.
On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security notified UAA in all caps that the termination was PAUSED.
“DHS will provide a formal status update in the coming days,” the university was told by the Trump team about the Center of Excellence.
“Thanks for your partnership with the Department of Homeland Security.”
The department is led by Kristi Noem, who has an excellent collection of homeland security outfits and likes to try on hats. She enjoys posing for pictures.
It seems that all nine centers of excellence were terminated, according to a memo sent to Noem and approved by her office, nextgov.com reported.
Nextgov.com said the memo said the excellence centers would be closed because of a “potential misalignment with current strategic priorities” and conflict with new departmental guidance.
“The purpose of this memorandum is to request your approval to terminate all current and pending grants and cooperative agreements administered by the Science and Technology Directorate, including all Centers of Excellence cooperative agreements and any other S&T grants managed through the DHS grants and Financial Assistance Division,” the memo said.
The Alaska center is a consortium called “Arctic Domain Awareness Center—Addressing Rapid Changes Through Technology, Innovation and Collaboration.”
One of the rapid changes that the center was not prepared to address is the utter incompetence of Trump and his team of sycophants.
In early 2024, UAA announced the opening of the center:
“The department’s Science and Technology Directorate will provide a boost of $46 million — allocated evenly annually over the course of 10 years — for development of the new Arctic Domain Awareness Center-Arctic Center of Excellence for Homeland Security in the Arctic. The program is part of an effort toward advancing research in the region through academic, industry, government, laboratory, and local and Indigenous community partners.”
On Tuesday, Noem’s department said the $46 million gran was canceled as well as the “Scientific Leadership Award.”
A university spokesman said UAA was trying to figure out the reason for the termination.
Noem was posing with ICE agents in Arizona holding a gun in an unsafe manner.
On a recent trip to Alaska, Noem pretended to be a firefighter and dressed for the part. She also posed for a photo while pretending to be flying a Coast Guard C-130.
In the past she has dressed up like a welder, a highway patrol officer, a welder, an accountant, a plumber and more.
