Security spending too much?

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff yesterday warned a Senate panel pushing for new funding that Osama bin Laden thinks he can defeat the United States by creating a spending frenzy.

After the September 11 attacks, the terrorist leader said “he wanted to bankrupt us,” Mr. Chertoff told the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

“He understood that one tool he had in waging war against the United States was to drive us crazy, into bankruptcy, trying to defend ourself against every conceivable threat,” Mr. Chertoff said.

“We do have limits, and we do have choices to make. We don’t want to break the very systems we’re trying to protect. We don’t want to destroy our way of life trying to save it. We don’t want to undercut our economy trying to protect our economy, and we don’t want to destroy our civil liberties and our freedoms in order to make ourselves safer,” Mr. Chertoff said.

Sen. George V. Voinovich, Ohio Republican, said a temporary new tax is needed to offset homeland security spending.

“We need more money. Constantly, we’re calling you to do this, do that. You only have so much money and we need to look at this thing from a larger perspective,” Mr. Voinovich said.

Senators yesterday called for more spending on first-responder grants and want to set aside 25 percent of the money for interoperable communications equipment that would allow first responders, such as firefighters and police officers, to communicate during an emergency.

Actual spending will be set by the appropriations committees, which have pending a bill of $35.4 billion for fiscal 2007 — $715 million more than the department requested and $1.4 billion more than was approved last year.

“It’s very expensive to establish interoperable communication, and yet many of us think that should be a national priority,” said Sen. Susan Collins, Maine Republican and committee chairman.

“If you talk to state and local law-enforcement officials, over and over again they point to the need for interoperable communications equipment.”

Funding for new communication systems is awaiting a survey to determine which system is preferred by state and local governments, so that the funding is not used to buy different equipment that might not be compatible, Mr. Chertoff said.

Sen. Mark Dayton, Minnesota Democrat, said funding for border protection is also inadequate.

“I respectfully disagree with what I took to be your presumption that the American people aren’t willing to pay for, or we have to pose a choice between bankruptcy and the maximum necessary homeland security,” Mr. Dayton said.

Mr. Chertoff said officials are trying to be “realistic” about what kind of protections officials can and cannot provide, and presented a five-year plan for security upgrades including border and airline screening, guarding against weapons of mass destruction, cargo screening, infrastructure protection, intelligence gathering, preparedness, and response.