Look at this list. It is funding needed to protect ourselves from terrorists. What’s your reaction to the items on this list — A waste of money, or worthwhile spending?
Screen Checked Baggage: $91.1 million
Screen Carry-On Baggage: $37.8 million
Passenger Profiling: $10 million
Screener Training: $5.3 million
Screen Passengers (portals) and Document Scanners: $1 million
Deploying Existing Technology to Inspect International Air Cargo: $31.4
millionProvide Additional Air/Counterterrorism Security: $26.6 million
Explosives Detection Training: $1.8 million
Augment FAA Security Research: $20 million
Customs Service: Explosives and Radiation Detection Equipment at Ports: $2.2 million
Anti-Terrorism Assistance to Foreign Governments: $2 million
Capacity to Collect and Assemble Explosives Data: $2.1 million
Improve Domestic Intelligence: $38.9 million
Critical Incident Response Teams for Post-Blast Deployment: $7.2 million
Additional Security for Federal Facilities: $6.7 million
Firefighter/Emergency Services Financial Assistance: $2.7 million
Public Building and Museum Security: $7.3 million
Improve Technology to Prevent Nuclear Smuggling: $8 million
Critical Incident Response Facility: $2 million
Counter-Terrorism Fund: $35 million
Explosives Intelligence and Support Systems: $14.2 million
Office of Emergency Preparedness: $5.8 million
Now comes the "reveal": this list comes from President Clinton’s 1996 Omnibus Anti-Terror Legislation.
The Republican-controlled Congress killed the legislation. At the time, they were more interested in stained blue dresses.
Wait, there’s more.
On April 6, 2000, then-Attorney General Janet Reno wrote the following words in a budget goals memo, detaling how counterterrorism was the top priority for the Department of Justice. (The FBI had declared couternterrorism its top priority several years earlier). She wrote:
"In the near term as well as the future, cybercrime and counterterrorism are going to be the most challenging threats in the criminal justice area. Nowhere is the need for an up-to-date human and technical infrastructure more critical."
Contrast this with the official annual budget goals memo — the same annual memo — from Attorney General John Ashcroft (under Bush), dated May 10, 2001. Out of seven strategic goals described, not one mentions counterterrorism.
As the 2006 election heats up, you’re going to be hearing a lot about how the Democrats, when they were in power, failed to address the growing threat of terrorism. This is demonstrably false, and you shouldn’t buy it (click on the link for more examples of what the Clinton Administration tried to do to thwart terrorism).