Federal report: Since 2006, Philly has spent $2.3M in federal dollars on unfinished counterterrorism site

An example of the counterterrorism center, or “fusion center” that Philadelphia is still in the process of building. Photo from presstv.ir

According to a U.S. Senate report, since 2006, Philly has spent $2.3 million of federal money to build a counterterrorism site that’s hardly finished, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

The city says that while the project is a year behind, it’s still moving forward:

City officials, however, say that a small center is operating and that plans to build a regional intelligence center were back on track, particularly since the Philadelphia Police Department recently took control of the project.

The building of the center is about a year behind schedule, but, [a legislative assistant to Everett Gillison, deputy mayor for public safety, Tom] Elsasser said, “we have not spent money improperly.”

Read the full article here.

For more details on the city’s response to the Senate report, check out this Newsworks article. Newsworks reports that a permanent counterterrorism center at 20th and Oregon should be finished by early 2013.

Updated 12:38 p.m. 10/10/12 to add more information and link to Newsworks article.