This (from today's New York Times) really infuriates me:

Ranks Thin in Hazard Unit of Fire Dept.

In the aftermath of Sept. 11, when 11 members of the New York City Fire Department's highly trained hazardous materials unit perished, there was widespread agreement, from outside experts to city officials, that the elite emergency unit needed not only to be rebuilt but also expanded, perhaps even doubled in size to deal with future disasters.

But nearly two years after the World Trade Center was destroyed, the department actually has fewer firefighters in the unit, which deals with biological, chemical or radiological attacks, than it did before Sept. 11. Some 14 of the 35 positions in the city's one formal hazardous materials unit are vacant, according to a current member, and the notion of adding a fully trained second unit appears remote.

Instead of fully staffing the existing unit and starting another one, they're giving less intensive training to more firefighters. Those firefighters might be well enough trained to handle a routine hazmat situation -- but not an unusual, unpredictable, possibly massive attack, just the kind New York City might face.

And why is this compromise necessary?

...the department says its efforts to add a second formal unit of elite hazardous materials specialists have been hampered most critically by the fact that much of the federal money available to the department, now and in the future, cannot be used to finance units that become permanent parts of the department's work force. The money — the department has received more than $6 million already, is slated to get another $3 million this month and has requested $10 million more — is meant to cover one-time emergency needs or equipment.

What the hell is that all about? Is there some notion in D.C. that the need for hazmat teams in NYC is temporary? What do they think -- that if Bush gets reelected and the GOP gets a filibuster-proof Senate majority we'll just declare the terrorist thread vanquished and pretend it's September 10?

This is a national issue. Terrorists don't target because they can't make a frigging right turn on a red light. They target NYC because NYC represents the U.S. to them. So there needs to be a national response.