Via: MSNBC

What is “homeland security?”

Whatever it is, the federal government has spent on a fortune on it. In the aftermath of 9/11 and the beginning of the interminable War on Terror, the Bush administration founded the Department of Homeland Security to act as a central, coordinating office which could respond to the new threats of the modern era. But in addition to the funds pouring into that department, Congress has allocated vast sums for “homeland security” expenditures in other departments, most notably at the Pentagon.

In fact, according to a new investigation from the Nation Institute’s Tomdispatch, $791 billion dollars in federal funding have gone to homeland security, both within and without the department.

“To give you a sense of just how big that is,” write analysts Chris Hellman and Mattea Kramer, “Washington spent an inflation-adjusted $500 billion on the entire New Deal.”

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