Port Security Won't Bankrupt Us

But the never-ending GWOT will, especially the war in Iraq.

Port Security Won�t Bankrupt Us - New York Times:

Michael Chertoff, the secretary of Homeland Security, seems determined to outdo his commander in chief in ratcheting up fears of Al Qaeda whenever he wants to score political points. This week, he raised the specter that if the government starts too many expensive antiterrorism programs it could further a plot by Osama bin Laden to 'drive us crazy, into bankruptcy, through overspending on homeland defense.

It was particularly ironic that Mr. Chertoff spun this theory while he was fighting off a measure, up for a vote today, that would help protect our ports against the threat that he himself deems most worrisome, a nuclear explosion within our borders, without government spending.
In testifying before a Senate committee on Tuesday, Mr.

Chertoff flailed away at straw men of his own concoction. He warned darkly about the dangers of trying to protect the country from 'every conceivable threat," an idea no one has ever espoused. The issue has always been the need to set priorities, and in that respect, Mr. Chertoff's department has become a laughingstock. It compiled one list of possible targets that included a petting zoo and a popcorn factory while the government provided only a pittance for our vulnerable subways.