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While that is a valid point, certain kinds of attacks would kill far fewer people in Casper than they would in Boston, owing to population density. And as it stands, the funding system is vulnerable to opportunism. While money for homeland security has grown, regular state and federal funding for police and fire operations continues to be cut as both state legislatures and the Bush Administration try to control growing budget deficits. In order to get the homeland-security money, states and localities must frame their needs in terms of terrorism. Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal defends his state's allotment but admits there is an incentive to see terrorism all around. "If you're trying to pick up an ambulance, you may know that ambulance will be used for natural disasters, but the paperwork will have to reflect terrorism. That's the problem. Money distorts objectivity."
--WHERE THE PINCH IS FELT
New York City has been the target of six separate plots by Islamist terrorists in the past decade, police commissioner Ray Kelly told Congress at a hearing last fall. Yet budget cutbacks have left 5,000 fewer police in the city than there were in 1999. And Kelly has pulled 1,000 of the remaining cops off normal duty to work on terrorism prevention. "We're doing more with less in many ways. There's an opportunity cost," Kelly says. "People who were doing homicide are now doing terrorism." New York City estimates its counter-terrorism needs at $900 million, he says. To date, it has been awarded about $206 million. "We are grateful for the help, but it does not come anywhere near the needs that we have," Kelly testified. "Far and away, the people and city of New York are bearing the cost of defending the homeland in New York."
The same can be said of Los Angeles. Since 9/11, California has spent more than $185 million in state funds on homeland security. Still, the L.A. County sheriff's department, which protects 10 million people, recently announced it may have to lay off 1,300 officers under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget plan.
Meanwhile, Wyoming is in a position to pay a greater share of the cost of protecting itself, yet refuses to do so. Thanks to high energy prices, Wyoming's plentiful oil and coal resources have helped produce a rare $1.2 billion state surplus, the largest in the nation as a percentage of budget, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Recently, the state's office of homeland security asked the Wyoming legislature for $532,000 over and above the $105,000 it already pays for Wyoming security chief Moore's salary. But the Governor and the office of homeland security removed the request before the measure came up for a vote because, says Governor Freudenthal, "they were going to kill the bill" otherwise. Since Sept. 11, California has spent roughly $5 a person of its own money on homeland security; Wyoming has spent about $1.
--CAN THIS BE FIXED?