"Grand and unforeseen"

Now, I do not profess to be an expert on anti-terrorism or security. Perhaps New York deserves a 40% cut in DHS funding; maybe the city/state application had coffee stains on it. But the White House response is rather, um, interesting:

The White House tried to minimize the effect on New York. The grants will be reconsidered each year and could change if "some grand and unforeseen need arises," said Tony Snow, the White House press secretary. "The point of homeland security, as I said before, is to provide security for the entire homeland," he said. "And certainly no disrespect meant to New York with $124 million for this coming year."

"If some grand and unforeseen need arises." I guess the warbloggers are wrong, "9-11" didn't change everything.

Irony, R.I.P.

What I find an especially curious aspect of the DHS decision is that they are penalizing New York for spending the money on defensive measures, like having more cops in the streets and therefore spending on overtime. The city recognizes, it seems to me, that a terrorist attack is a crime that can be prevented. DHS apparently has other ideas about dealing with the threat.

The report, obtained yesterday, pointed out opposing views held by cities and the federal government over how antiterrorism money should be spent and, as an extension of those views, how terrorism should be fought.

City officials have used federal money to subsidize continuing costs, like paying overtime to officers. The federal government, on the other hand, wants the grants to pay for semipermanent safeguards that can increase security over the long term, like improvements in communications systems, better gas masks and increased training.

So let's get this straight: DHS is telling New York the city's better off assuming that a successful attack is gonna happen, so spend the money on the response -- better radios, gasmasks, response training, etc. It's indicative of the Bush/Cheney approach to national security. Grand and unforeseen, indeed.

UPDATE: Oh. The Rude Pundit explains the brilliant strategic ploy to fool al Qaeda into attacking...Newark. That Bush/Cheney team -- genius, I tells ya. Genius.