Those damn whiny New Yorkers... they only endured the worst terrorist attack ever on this country and have always been the biggest target for terrorism over any other place in the country... and we only took away nearly half of their counter-terrorism funding... those damn whiners.
Yeah, they endured the worst terrorist attack on US soil...but even now, New York City still receives more funds from DHS than any other city in the United States. (Source (
http://www.dhs.gov/interweb/assetlibrary/grants_st-local_fy06.pdf) , refer to p.2 of pdf)
This smacks of nothing more than elitism on the part of New York officials. "Georgia peanut farmers"? As if there's nothing else in Georgia but peanut farmers? (Atlanta, by the way, is getting 18.6 million dollars, compared to NYC's 124.4 million). By the way, DC, which the article also says is getting snubbed by DHS, is the #4 top recipient of DHS funds under the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) program, behind NYC, LA, and Chicago. I also find it ironic that Chucky Schumer singled out Georgia, what with the Atlanta stadium bombing at the Olympics...
Here are a few key quotes from the article:
The department announced the recipients of $1.7 billion distributed through various programs to help states and cities help prepare for potential terror attacks and natural disasters.
Department officials have changed the criteria used to award money under their programs, saying that instead of looking at population, they are trying to focus more on where risks exist. They are also taking into account how well municipalities have used past grants.
The department said there is risk throughout the nation and that preparedness dollars therefore need to be spread out.
"It does not mean the risk in New York is different ... or lower," Assistant Secretary Tracy Henke said. "It means we have additional information, additional clarity" about how to best allocate resources.
She said one problem the department faced in making its decisions is that Congress allocated less money for all of the grant programs this year. She added that the department has much better information this year, which helped in the evaluation of where the money should go.
After 9/11, we poured money into New York and DC, the targets of that attack...just as we should have. But to say that it's reasonable to splurge in New York and DC while skimping in other areas of the US is just foolish. After all, as New York and DC become more and more secure, the more likely it becomes that terrorist attacks will be perpetrated elsewhere, as there will be a greater likelihood of success somewhere else.
It's also extremely disengenuous for Chucky Schumer to be out there bashing Chertoff when the article explicitly states that Congress allocated less money for the UASI program this year. If Schumer wants to keep DHS funding for New York, he shouldn't be bashing Chertoff, he should be bashing himself and the Congress for cutting funding.
If anything, this sounds like DHS becoming more effecient and more effective. They're learning to use their money better. And it's extremely hard to take Chuck Schumer seriously when New York City is still getting the biggest piece of the pie.
As for the whole "no national monuments or icons" thing, I'd like to look at the 'scorecard' that supposedly came to this conclusion myself...but after searching for the better part of an hour, I can't find it. But my question is, if DHS has scored New York City as having 'no national monuments or icons,' what are they doing giving New York City the most money? If DHS really considered New York City to not be much of a terrorist target, they wouldn't be giving them 124.4 million dollars (17.9% of total UASI funds).