In July, the department rolled out funding for security at the sites of chemical plants and other key infrastructure, and for inter-city rail and truck security. In total, $399 million is being awarded this year under the Infrastructure Protection Program -- one of a half dozen big grants schemes under which the department allocates $3 billion or so of federal cash to state and local governments and agencies and the private sector.

Observers saw in other allocations an effort to sweeten the pill some states had to take earlier this year when the department -- to a chorus of howls from local officials -- cut funding for key cities in another of those grant programs, its Urban Areas Security Initiative, or UASI.

The Port of New York and New Jersey received more than $25 million. According to the department's figures, that is nearly four times what it got last year, and more even than the $19 million-plus it received in 2003 -- the year that marked something of a high-water mark for homeland security funding for big cities.

The city also got nearly $54 million in grants for commuter bus rail and ferry security.

New York was one of the places that complained most loudly about the UASI allocations earlier this year. Rep. Pete King, R-N.Y., the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, accused Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff of having "declared war" on New York.

But this round of funding was welcomed even by the administration's critics. Sen. Hilary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y. called the award "encouraging," though she went on to accuse officials of having "shortchanged" port security, complaining "the funds are nowhere near what is needed to truly address our port security needs" in New York.

The Port of Baltimore got $4.8 million, a five-fold increase from last year, and Hampton Roads, Va., became for the first time one of the 50 locations getting port cash this year, with an award of $3.5 million.

The allocations also include $14.3 million for additional security measures on transit systems in the Washington-Baltimore metropolitan region, the department said in a statement.

The transit money represents $1.3 million for bus systems throughout the region and $13 million for the region's commuter rail networks: Baltimore's light rail system, Virginia's VRE, Maryland's MARC train and Washington's Metro.

A working group of local transit and homeland affairs officials will decide how the money should be divided between the different systems, said a member of the group, who spoke to United Press International on condition of anonymity.

"We have known for several months how much money we were going to get," the official said, "and we have made our recommendations" to the state homeland security advisors for Maryland, Virginia and D.C. "They have never not been accepted in the past."

The official declined to comment in detail about the decisions on spending which have not been publicly released, but he said one key recommendation was for an alternative operations center that could be used to run the D.C. Metro in an emergency like a natural disaster or a terrorist attack. "That has been identified as the number one vulnerability (among the transit systems) in the region," said the official.

Elsewhere, however, officials were disappointed at some of the decisions made.

"It is difficult to understand any port security funding program that completely leaves out one of the nation's largest ports," said Matthew Bettenhausen, director of the California Office of Homeland Security, upon learning that no dollars would be allocated for Oakland, Calif.

The Department of Homeland Security, he went on, "has constantly said that their intent is to direct valuable homeland security funds to the nation's assets most at risk or where the consequences of an attack would have the most devastating effect," he continued. "Unfortunately, (it) has failed in this attempt."

Officials defended the methodology used to make the awards, saying it was based on risk and consequence. The disbursement process "represent(s) a major step forward in how the department integrates expert input and risk-based formulas into the allocation of limited resources," said Chertoff.

The disbursement, coming just two weeks before the end of the financial year for which the funds had been allocated, led some to criticize the department for sitting on monies that could have been used to pay for better security. "How does it make anyone safer to have money sitting in Washington?" asked a senior congressional staffer, noting that the appropriations bill Congress is expected to pass this week for the department calls on officials to ensure that money is distributed earlier in the financial year.

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