Bush: Security or profits for his friends? Do you even have to ask?

Really, in these times of Halliburton, KBR, etc...

New York Times Opinion:

Port Security Won’t Bankrupt Us

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.

[...]

When it comes to homeland security, the Bush administration has repeatedly allowed corporate profits to trump safety. That seems to be the problem here, just as it has been when it came to the chemical industry’s resistance to reforms that would help protect against toxic disasters if terrorists ever attacked their plants. Right now, a port security bill is pending in the Senate that would establish three pilot programs overseas to test the feasibility of scanning all containers. But Mr. Schumer is surely right that delay is dangerous and unnecessary. Virtually all containers destined for the United States should be scanned for nuclear or radiological weapons within the next four years. It is not enough to scan the containers after their arrival here, the current administration policy. That could be too late.

Read the column