Followin up on my earlier post about Republicans wanting to cut earmarks, we can now have a look into one wasteful program that was pushed through by Republicans in Congress:

An anti-terrorism program contracted to an industry lobbying group has sparked criticism from Democratic congressional overseers, agency investigators, former employees and watchdog groups.

Meanwhile, two prominent Republican appropriators backed the program, funded through the Department of Homeland Security, that wound up driving millions of dollars in contracts to their home states.

Sounds good so far, until you read how much money this program actually wastes:

A report by the Homeland Security inspector general found that over 10 months the program spent nearly $10 million on administration and marketing, even though it had only about 14 direct employees.

“This report raises serious concerns about the Bush administration putting trucking industry lobbyists in charge of highway security,” Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee surface transportation subcommittee, said in a statement.

The other thing that comes to mind reading this article is how terrorism has become a tool for profits. We have seen it from the contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan to the rising cost of oil. This is why you can’t wage a war against an ideology, because it ends up opening the system to easier abuses such as this.