South Dakota's pass on federal cybersecurity grants costing local governments

Noem's office cited 'strings attached' as being part of the reason they declined to apply

Photo by Roman Synkevych on Unsplash

PIERRE – South Dakota and Florida are the only two states in the country that have not applied for federal cybersecurity grants through the Infrastructure and Investment Act when they first came available last fiscal year.

And according to officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, it’s up to the executive branch to determine whether or not to accept those funds. 

“The best answer would have to come from the administration, they are the ones who made the decision not to participate,” said Jim Edman, statewide coordinator for the DHS cybersecurity agency.

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