Submitted by Andrew Grossman, Jul 19, 2007 10:14

The current formula for dispersing homeland security funds is ripe for largess in large part as a result of the organizational structure of the DHS bureaucracy [and the per capita formula] which seems to have little direct of money after it been allocated to states and communities. A risk and target analysis approach to funding would expose odd variations in per-capita spending numbers where, even adjusted for population, rural areas of the country may get more money than, say, Detroit, Michigan. But there are sound reasons for this, however, the rationale for spending money in seemingly odd places, e.g., on rural pipeline protection or rural protection of the food and rail lines in the farm belts around the country go unexplained and undefended by government officials in any clear, systematic, fashion. What do we get instead? A public debate in the Washington Post, The New York Sun, and other news-outlets between Secretary Chertoff and Mayor Bloomberg of New York City over very important issues for sure, but the debate lacks any depth of explanation. It is a fact that NYC and the other six major cities in the United States, are currently receiving 55% of DHS spending, maybe they need 60%; however, a carefully conceived and serious asymmetric attack against the United States may well avoid all 7 large metropolitan areas. In fact, one does not have to be a strategist at the national war colleges to see the benefits of doing this, everybody is watching the 7 major cities, attack somewhere else. For example, destroy the natural gas line nodes in parts of rural Western Michigan, kill not a person, no spectacle to be seen on CNN: but shut off natural gas to the Northeast in February for 45 days, see what happens to the national economy, or how safe are folks as they freeze in their homes? Chertoff has a tough row to hoe, but he is not wrong. For the record I grew up in NJ, lived in Brooklyn for four years, love NYC with all my heart, and my family lives there. Currently I live in rural America and teach at a liberal arts college.

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