Fortress Wyoming.

• Author: Peters, Charles
• Position: Tilting at Windmills - Grants-in-aid - Brief Article

That things are not exactly going swimmingly in the new Department of Homeland Security is the import of two recent items. "As of April 2004, about 85% of the preparedness grants distributed from the 2003 budget had not been utilized," Christopher Cox, the chairman of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security, told reporter John McCaslin of The Washington Times. Some of the money that has been spent has gone for ridiculous purposes--like buying a small Maryland fire department a $350,000 custom-made fireboat or purchasing a new office security system for prosecutors in Prince George's County, Md.--that we pointed out in "Tilting" in January. The committee also found that the money is not being distributed with due regard to the relative risk faced by the recipient states and communities, and that the federal guidelines on how the money is to be spent are inadequate.

"The formula for distributing homeland security money gives a disproportionate amount to less populated places," reports Time's Amanda Ripley. New York has received $24.77 per person while...