Sen. Reid Says Chertoff Should Resign

More concerned about pork than protection, Sen. Harry Reid wants the head of Michael Chertoff because the Homeland Security Dept. has lowered Las Vegas' priority for anti-terror funds. The $8 Million the city received last year was just not enough. Now the Department wants to do for other cities what it did for Las Vegas, but Harry Reid feels that they should wait since it's more important to keep the funds flowing in his state rather than getting the whole nation outfitted for possible terror strikes.

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid called for the resignation of Homeland Security Department Secretary Michael Chertoff on Wednesday, one day after the government dropped Las Vegas from a list of cities considered potential high-risk targets eligible for special anti-terrorism grants.

Reid, D-Nev., joins Clark County Sheriff Bill Young in calling for Chertoff to step down as a result of the decision jeopardizing millions in additional federal funding that Nevada currently receives as a result of being considered a potential terrorist target.
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"Anyone who can't see that Las Vegas is a high-risk area doesn't deserve to serve in a position like that," Reid said.

Las Vegas received $8 million in 2005 through such high-threat funding to purchase a spectrometer to detect chemical agents, special clothing, chemical response vehicles, handheld computers for emergency personnel to communicate, a bomb robot and a bomb armored vehicle, according to the Clark County Office of Emergency Management.

Chertoff defended the scaled-back approach as one that focuses federal grants on those areas most needing to make preparations, with the 35 locations decided by 3.2 billion calculations aimed at determining regions most susceptible to terrorism.

The Homeland Security Department has seen Las Vegas as a high-risk area, that's why it gave the city $8 million. Instead of complaining about the priority list, he should make the case for where the state needs are not met.

This week Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced that even cities at the highest risk of a terrorist attack will have to prove exactly why they need homeland-security grants and demonstrate how the money will improve the nation's overall preparedness. It's a kind of "show me the risk" approach that critics such as the 9/11 commission have long said was lacking.

What a concept. It's one that's lost on Sen. Reid. Instead of complaining about the priority list, he should make the case for where the state needs are not met. By Sen. Reid's standard other cities that have not been given the equipment just need to stay unprepared because Las Vegas just can't pass on another wad of cash. Making a credible case for financing from the federal government is much too much like work. Better to just call for the resignation of the Department Secretary than to worry about, ah, facts an stuff.

As is the case with Sen. Reid, his tactics are not in touch with the real world.

"The purpose of all homeland-security funding is not to generate popularity ... for the Department of Homeland Security, it is to address the highest priorities driven by an analytic, risk-based process," said Secretary Chertoff at a Washington briefing on Tuesday

Doesn't sound like Secretary Chertoff is too concerned about Sen. Reid's opinion.

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