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DHS Stands By Anti-Terror Cuts

Addressing the panel are, from left, George Foresman of the Department of Homeland Security and top preparedness officials Edward Reiskin, from the District; Robert Crouch, from Virginia; and Dennis Schrader, from Maryland. (By Lucian Perkins -- The Washington Post)

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Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), who called the hearing as chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform, got into a back-and-forth with Foresman, pressing him to explain why the District will get less money than Montana in one grant program.

"Do you think Montana is at greater risk than D.C.?" Davis asked.

"We don't rate one community against another," Foresman said.

"Doesn't it seem on risk alone, D.C. would have a higher risk than Montana?" Davis said.

"On just risk, D.C. would have scored higher," Foresman said, adding that other factors were involved, including an analysis of the way each community intended to spend its grant, whether that plan would be effective and whether it advanced national homeland security goals.

Davis wasn't swayed. "How in the world is a risk or threat or anything in Montana or North Dakota or South Dakota higher than in the District?" he asked. "I don't think it passes the laugh test."

Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.) calculated that his state was receiving $4.50 per resident while Wyoming was getting $16 per resident.

"We're protecting the grizzly bears in Wyoming, as opposed to the people who work around Fort Meade and NSA," Ruppersberger said.

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