New York Officials Complain of Unfair Share of Security Money

Iowa is set to get nearly $8 million in homeland security money from Washington in the coming weeks, with a chunk of it possibly going to train veterinarians, cattlemen and others working with livestock to spot signs of biological attacks. Wyoming will receive nearly $5 million, but officials there are still trying to figure out how to spend it. “It’s just so early at this point,” said Lara Azar, a spokeswoman for Gov. Dave Freudentha. Idaho’s roughly $5.8 million share of the nearly $600 million pot of federal money will in part be spent on emergency drills and exercises, though the homeland security agency there acknowledges that it has no intelligence suggesting that the state has been singled out for attack. The list goes on, across 50 states. But to politicians in New York, the state hardest hit by terrorists, the way the federal government is doling out this money makes no sense. Full Story