NEW YORK, May 19 (UPI) -- Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Wednesday that high-risk cities deserve a larger share of federal anti-terror funding.
Testifying in New York before the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States, Ridge said, "Population density and threat should drive most of the money, not just part of it."
Ridge's remark came after both former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and current mayor Michael Bloomberg said formulas used to assign federal homeland security funding have changed to favor areas much less likely to suffer an attack than New York.
Ridge said it is his goal to build the capacity of every state to fight terrorism, but said current funding formulas give too little weight to the extra threats that apply only to large, high-profile cities.
Bloomberg said the funding discrepancy is the work of members of Congress seeking to direct funding to their home states.
"This is pork barrel politics at its worst," Bloomberg said. "It also, unfortunately, has the effect of aiding and abetting those who hate us and plot against us."
