To the Editor:

Re “Security Cuts for New York and Washington” (news article, June 1):

I was flabbergasted to read that there is only $711 million in homeland security money available to split among all of our urban areas.

Perhaps if the United States wasn’t spending $200 million a day to “fight terrorism” in a foreign country, there would be more than enough for every American community to set up an excellent homeland security initiative.

Fighting terrorism “there” will not prevent it from happening “here.” We need adequate financing for better systems to put in place right here at home.

Dana L. Hoffman
West Hartford, Conn., June 1, 2006

•To the Editor:

How ironic that New York City, which has been turned into a virtual theme park like Disneyland, except that people actually live here, is being treated with such contempt by the men running this country.

Terrorists attacked Manhattan, killing innocent people and sending the people who live here into a state of emotional chaos.

And now the men running this country, in charge of homeland security financing, have decided to reduce sharply the amount given to New York.

Ironic considering that we never got all the homeland security money originally promised. Something is terribly wrong here.

Ellen Lebowitz
New York, June 1, 2006

•To the Editor:

Re “City Has Itself to Blame for Terror Cuts, U.S. Says” (front page, June 2): New York does indeed have itself to blame.

Operation Atlas, with its cavalcade of flashy police cars, blaring sirens and machine gun-toting cops moving around New York City, does little to deter terrorism, according to federal officials, who fault the Bloomberg administration for losing $83 million in precious counterterrorism money by not adequately explaining how programs like this can make the city safer.

But critics correctly point to the New York City subways, which sat on $591 million in federal and state security money after 9/11, while Moscow, Madrid and London trains were bombed. These critics say oversight of local programs and spending is needed. Counterterrorism initiatives should be more than window-dressing, as terrorists continue to probe for weak spots in planning future attacks.

Appointing regional security czars throughout America to coordinate antiterrorism planning would go a long way toward eliminating mismanagement and guaranteeing that security technologies and financing are shared equally to protect everyone in these trying times.

Nicholas Casale
New York, June 2, 2006
The writer was deputy director of security for counterterrorism, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, 2002-03.

•To the Editor:

What is truly flawed in the controversy over reducing New York City’s share of total antiterrorism dollars by 40 percent from $207 million to $124 million is that we are spending $200 million a day in Iraq, with costly pay for local security forces.

Yet the city gets poor grades for many of its proposals, including overtime for security personnel.

There is no way to satisfy our true needs for homeland security as long as Iraq remains part of the homeland.

Richard L. Gilbert
Bronx, June 2, 2006

•To the Editor:

Re “Pork 1, Antiterrorism 0” (editorial, June 2):

I agree that there is pork in some of the recent Department of Homeland Security urban grants. But you overstate the case.

If left to their own devices, New York City officials would try to obtain security grants for all manner of projects that have the flimsiest connection to security.

How easy to avoid fiscal responsibility — issuing bonds or raising taxes — when one can use security as an excuse.

The entire Department of Homeland Security is a redundant bureaucracy that distributes pork. These exercises in financing encourage feeding frenzies by states and cities, and the kind of silly disparagement of other cities (like Omaha) that has no place in our national dialogue.

The Atlantic Avenue subway station in Brooklyn and the 34th Street station in Manhattan, vital transportation hubs, were revealed to be terrorist targets in separate trials. They should be patrolled by United States armed forces.

Grants, applications and political posturing are a wasteful distraction. We are in a war. Let’s act like it.

Alexander Goldstein
Brooklyn, June 2, 2006

•To the Editor:

I will admit that I never voted for President Bush and that I am not a fan. That said, I still am somehow surprised, and find it outrageous, that this administration had the audacity to cut antiterrorism financing to New York City to benefit other “targets,” like Omaha and places in Alaska.

This just goes to show just how out of touch this president is with our world.

I am a mother of an infant. I want her to grow up and be safe. The Bush administration’s priorities are all wrong.

These decisions jeopardize the safety of my family. I hold George W. Bush personably accountable for whatever damage comes our way.

Karen Glowacki
New York, June 2, 2006

•To the Editor:

Republicans have no hope of winning New York in the next election, so President Bush doesn’t waste time tending to New York’s interests.

The root of irrational policy is the irrational politics of the Electoral College.

Ilya Shlyakhter
Princeton, N.J., June 2, 2006