Are We Ready for the Next 9/11?

The sorry state--and stunning waste--of homeland security spending.

Veronique de Rugy from the March 2006 issue

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The TSA's budget reflects Congress' overreaction. Its $5.9 billion represents more than 10 percent of homeland security spending and more than 15 percent of DHS' budget. Its funds exceed those of the FBI or the Secret Service. And although Congress originally charged the TSA with protecting all modes of transportation, it has done little beyond aviation. More than 90 percent of the TSA's budget request for fiscal year 2006 is devoted to air transport. The TSA has established itself as a multibillion-dollar centralized bureaucracy whose main function is to guarantee that security screeners, many of whom barely speak English, spend endless hours harassing pilots, confiscating dangerous mustache scissors, and pawing grandmothers and children.

At first mass transit received its security funding through the broad State Homeland Security Grant Programs. Transit officials complained that little of the money would make its way to them because they had to compete with first responders and many other competitors. But when coordinated bombings on the Madrid train system killed 191 people in March 2004, Congress immediately created a separate $150 million grant program for transit and rail security.

In the aftermath of the two attacks on the London subway system last July, lawmakers proposed still more money for public transit systems. Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) suggested an increase of $100 million. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) talked of $200 million. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) called for a $1.2 billion increase, and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) upped it to $1.3 billion. That was nothing compared to the $6 billion requested by William Millar, president of the American Public Transport Association.

Yet if the London bombings teach us anything, it's that throwing money at transit security is unlikely to have any impact. After decades of combating Irish Republican Army terrorists, the London subway system is known to be one of the best protected in the world, but the large public investment in surveillance did not prevent the two terrorist attacks. The second incident occurred even while the system was in maximum alert mode. Experts agree that options are limited, if not nonexistent, for preventing such strikes. So why spend money on it?

Fortunately, lawmakers never got around to increasing transit security funding. Only a few weeks before they passed their homeland security spending bill, the Gulf Coast was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Because they have the attention spans of 2-year-olds, members of Congress immediately turned all their attention to firefighters and natural disaster preparedness. During the debate on the spending bill, dozens of amendments were introduced to increase funding for everything from natural disaster relief efforts to firefighters. Among other things, lawmakers included an amendment (ultimately defeated) that would have provided $1.7 billion more for first responders and for disaster planning and mitigation.

The Alternative

It's hard to see how we are safer from terrorist attack now that the Princeton, New Jersey, Fire Department owns Nautilus exercise equipment, free weights, and a Bowflex machine, all paid for with homeland security grants.

If Congress were serious about homeland security, it would scrap the requirement that every state be guaranteed a part of the homeland security budget, abolish all grants to state and local governments, ban all earmarks from homeland security bills, and create better oversight for its homeland security spending. These steps would help root out wasteful spending and ensure that funds were allocated based on risk rather than politics.

In 2004 the members of the independent, bipartisan 9/11 commission stated that the current system is in danger of turning homeland security funding into "pork-barrel" spending and making security subsidies just another state entitlement program. They suggested that homeland security funding be based strictly on an assessment of risks. While mainly ignored by lawmakers, their conclusions did trigger public debate. Greater public outrage about the deeply flawed spending process may have encouraged DHS to become a stronger advocate for reform ideas unpopular in the pork-hungry Congress.

Indeed, the greatest potential for reform today is coming from DHS. Following the 9/11 recommendations, it has started pushing for a complete overhaul of the grant formula and a more risk-based approach to homeland security in general. A possible sign of that new attitude is the Transportation Security Administration's recent decision to allow passengers to carry some knives onto airplanes. It certainly isn't enough, but it's a step in the right direction. Meanwhile, the department's inspector general has produced several extensive reports exposing bad practices and suggesting ways to curb wasteful spending. If Congress is waiting for guidance before it acts, it need wait no longer.

But that might be wishful thinking. Congress, by nature, is an inefficient institution driven by self-interested politicians. Wasteful spending is par for the course. And if it is sad that lawmakers treat homeland security the same way they treat everything else, it certainly isn't surprising.