What’s Richard Falkenrath’s, NYC Chief Counter Terrorism Chief, biggest fear?  Simultaneous detonation of backpack bombs in the subway system.

Falkenrath says he “wakes up every morning braced for another terrorist attack…”  Falkenrath warned House lawmakers in Washington about the lack of subway security.

Despite those threatsand a spate of deadly train bombings in London, Madrid and Mumbai, India, Falkenrath, a former White House homeland security official, said the federal government has done little to protect the nation’s subway and rail systems.

Lovely.  It gets better.

“Given the severity of the terrorist threat to the U.S. mass transit system … the disparity between the federal investment in aviation security and … mass transit security is a national embarrassment,” he said.

Quick side note about Falkenrath.  He’s a former Bush White House staffer.  Officially, he was Director for Proliferation Strategy on the National Security Council staff.  The fact that he worked for Bush is a bit scary.  But then again, he left to come work for the city, so maybe that means he’s actually smart.  Anyway…

At the hearing, Falkenrath was testifying before the Homeland Security Committee about a $4 billion bill proposed to provide security funding for the subway.  However, even if it is approved, there’s tons of problems.

One of the biggest problems is that the money pays for equipment, but not for the people!  So even if they get the money, they can’t use it to pay for more staffing.  Wonderful. 

That’s how screwed up our government actually is. 

(photo by blue rubicon)