More incompetence from the Department of Homeland Stupidity:
Colorado Springs-based Ramblin Express, which shuttles gamblers to mountain-town casinos, including Cripple Creek, has received $382,000 in anti-terrorism grants.
The most recent grant, for $184,415, was announced this month as part of the Department of Homeland Security’s $844 million Infrastructure Protection Activities program.
Ramblin Express’ grant is among the $11.2 million allocated to the Intercity Bus Security Grant Program, which is intended to assess risks and prevent attacks on that part of the nation’s transportation system.
It’s not clear what threats Ramblin Express is addressing or what the grant money has gone for because the company’s owner, Todd Holland, couldn’t be reached for comment.
A Federal Emergency Management Agency official said in written responses to questions the Ramblin Express’ money is for vehicle security and GPS systems. FEMA also said spending is monitored.
Homeland security expert James Carafano derided the program as a “ridiculous” expense.
“This is checkbooks gone wild,” said Carafano, a senior research fellow at conservative Washington, D.C., think tank The Heritage Foundation. “This is so stupid.”
Carafano said if private companies or local governments feel the need to improve security or take steps to guard against terrorism, they should foot the bill, not turn to Uncle Sam.
“People are more than willing to spend other people’s nickel,” he said.
Such grants don’t make the nation safer and divert money from more worthwhile efforts, such as the mission to “get the terrorists,” Carafano said.
……Ramblin Express was the only Colorado bus company to receive funding and the only one that applied, a federal homeland security official said. The official said applications are reviewed by a National Review Panel of experts from the Department of Transportation, Transportation Safety Administration and FEMA.
……Whatever security measures the grants paid for, they weren’t enough to prevent an armed robbery aboard a Ramblin Express bus in August 2006.
……Scott Duncan, general manager of All Aboard America, …..said his buses run near the Mexico border and a nuclear power plant, placing them at risk.
http://www.gazette.com/articles/security_36642___article.html/bus_ramblin.html
Did you get that? They have to protect slot-machine gamblers from the Mexican border and a nuclear power plant.
Since 2003, this shuttle service has received $763,896 for ‘protection’. Jeezeustapdancin’Christ.
If the DHS wanted to put that money to good use, they’d have spent it on a border wall.