Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the United States has spent more than $4.5 billion on technological devices to defend our nation against terrorist attacks. This money was mostly
dedicated to screening devices used at a
variety of locales, such as tools to detect
guns and biological weapons at airports and state borders.
Unfortunately, The New York Times reported last week that much of this technology
has been deemed faulty; after spending
billions of dollars in a panic wave over terrorism, the federal government has determined that many of these homeland security tools are “ineffective, unreliable, or too expensive to operate.”
Whoops!
It turns out that equipment meant to detect radioactive material cannot tell the difference between bananas, cat litter and a nuclear bomb; new airport screening devices are no more effective than previous products; and machines used to protect the U.S. Postal
Service actually monitor for only one kind of biological weapon threat.
To deal with these issues, the federal government is now poised to shell out billions more replacing unusable equipment. Officials estimate that around $7 billion is needed to fix the problems with current technology, as well as to introduce brand new anti-terrorism devices.
Frugal shopping is the key. The U.S. government has obscene amounts of money on its hands, with the explicit duty to provide for the citizens of this country as best it can. Critics note that post-Sept. 11 technology was purchased without appraising competitive bids and that no one made sure the items in need were functional and reliable.
This oversight of the government is
inexcusable.
Any U.S. citizen would agree that testing goods and finding the lowest prices are no-brainers when it comes to shopping; apparently the federal government needs to take notes on what it means to conserve resources.
When making decisions for this country in the future, U.S. leaders must remember to vote on logic rather than passion. Equipping our nation with protective technology is important but not as important as making sure all U.S. monetary needs are addressed in a responsible manner. Both anachronistic and obvious in a time of nationalistic fervor is that the United States faces a myriad number of problems besides terrorism. Already this year, President Bush has cut spending for education, health and housing programs; imagine what a wasted $4.5 billion could have done for those programs.
Until every school, police station and community center receive all the funding they can ask for, the federal government must spend wisely and offer a severe apology to the nation when it fails to do so. U.S. citizens pay taxes with the express understanding that their money is going toward the betterment of the nation, not toward providing airports with the ability to detect kitty litter.

[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]