I see from this Washington Post article that the antiterrorism budget for the two cities directly attacked on 9.11.01 [New York City and D.C. for those who’ve forgotten] will be shortchanged $114M from last year’s budget thereby taking on 95% of the $120M budget cut.
I’m no rocket scientist, nor am I a counterterroism expert, but A) reducing the antiterrorism budget and B) cutting said budget primarily in the two most prime target cities does not seem like sound counterterrorism advice. I got some ideas, as I’m sure most if not all BooTribbers do, as to how we can go about protecting our country, what the DHS has announced today and done in the past – probably not high up on the list if on it at all.
Washington and New York will receive 40 percent less in urban grant money compared to last year, with Washington dropping from $77 million to $46 million and New York falling from $207 million to $124 million, DHS officials said. The combined total means that the two areas bear almost the entire brunt of a $120 million cut in the overall budget for the program, the statistics show.
The front page of the DHS website has plenty of talk about the upcoming hurricane season. And when did that become a national security concern? I didn’t know we were at war against Mother Nature. On the sidebar, you can read this press release leading to the state by state and urban area breakdown [.pdf]. I can’t find the 2006 document for a comparison right now. Anybody have that?
I think it’s ridiculous that people from across the country whine and moan about those idiots in DC and NYC who are such idiot liberal fuckers who want to destroy our country while continuting to live in the two most prime terrorist targets in this hated country of ours. And it’s even more ridiculous to take monies away from the counterterroism grants from said high risk targets.
It almost makes you think that they would welcome another attack, doesn’t it?
October surprise. Polls across the board for just about all Rs are pretty dismal…
What a blessing that would be in restoring resolve.
Am I the only one who remembers countless stories after 9/11 about towns in the middle of nowhere getting huge counterterrorism grants while the places like N.Y. City that were actually realistic targets got comparatively little?
Why are they now trying to make that imbalance even worse? This coupled with the lousy border security and the disinterest in nuclear nonproliferation is enough to make any sane person wonder whose side Bush and company are on.
It would be bad enough for our country if this administration would settle for being among the most inept in history. Instead, most of the time it seems like they are competing for some ideal of most inept theoretically possible.
Yes! Cities like NYC were screwed up until the 2005 DHS counterterrorism allotments when they jumped from $47M to $208M. And now in the 2007 budget, NYC and DC get money taken away, 40% cuts in NYC and DC. Blech.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5857233,00.html This gives the breakdown state by state, city by city of grants of last year/this year.
The chart at this link provides a comparison between 2005 and 2006, in a way that ranks the cities on a percentage basis:
http://www.hlswatch.com/2006/05/31/uasi-grants-winners-and-losers/
Why are you all still falling in the fear trap set by BushCo by pulling a 9/11 on us. NYC and DC were not attacked by the terrorists DHS is supposed to protect us from. DHS is so close to the people we should really fear that it might be best if they got no $$$ at all.
It almost makes me think that the government doesn’t believe that there will be any terrorist attacks in America. After 9/22 which was totally “unexpected,” and after which we invaded Iraq, why would our govt think that? Do they know something that we don’t now? Undoubtedly!
Ooops! My fingers were one key to the right;I obviously meant 9/11