Yet our ability to respond to terror at home is not up to par by most accounts, and attempts to improve it are devolving into political and territorial firefights. In New York, Gov. George Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg are sparring over how to allocate precious federal dollars the state eventually will get for homeland defense.
"We're going to find out where we're vulnerable," Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., recently told The Associated Press. "There has not been enough focus and not enough appropriations to deal with homeland security."
Though lack of federal funding is causing the most friction, it is by no means the only impediment to shoring up what some officials see as a vulnerable homeland. Experts cite a lack of guidance by federal authorities, and a lack of private-public partnerships that share innovative ideas and technologies as key stumbling blocks.