Opinion: Homeland Security Funding

I have talked to a number of news organizations in the last few weeks about the 10th Anniversary of 9/11 and what it means.  The ramifications of the event, the change in how we operate and of course the homeland security grants that have driven much of what we have done in the last decade.

See my current Op-ed in the Seattle Times Newspaper that is running tomorrow, Friday, August 19th, U.S. must remain vigilant about homeland security with fewer resources  The focus of this piece is on the funding.  One comment that someone left already at the link above says that I asked more questions than I answered.  I'd have to say that:

• I don't have all the answers, and those that say they do, don't know what they don't know.
• The word count on op-ed pieces limits the amount of information I could share.  For instance I had a whole paragraph on the benefits of the HLS grants that went to public health.  That was cut to "right size" the commentary.

I did have one additional thought that I may expand on in its own future blog post and that is on operational readiness.  Earlier this year I both wrote and blogged on the topic, see Operational Readiness is Elusive  When thinking about that more in the last 24 hours and trying to answer the question, "Was the expenditure of funding worth it?"  I was thinking that operational readiness and disaster preparedness is like going on vacation.  Bear with me on this.  Think about it.  You come back from a vacation with little physical evidence that the expenditure of time and resources provided any value at all.  It is the moment itself and the relationships that you build and maintain are the benefit.  So too, operational readiness that has been purchased with training and exercises, equipment that has outlived its shelf life, was that wasted when nothing happened? 

No, it did buy something during the time period when you had these capabilities in place you had some peace of mind and preparedness should something have happened.  Nothing lasts forever and if you are counting pennies you will find that security is never that cost efficient.  You are expending time and energy because you think something could happen.  Count your blessings that nothing did and don't bemoan the expenditure of funds that gave you that level of protection purchased with hard earned taxpayer dollars.

I look forward to seeing what you guys have to say in comments that you can leave to this blog posting.