Aljazeera.com created an interactive chart titled “September 11: Counting the costs to America” online: “Domestic: $540 billion
Domestic security spending – the ‘homeland security industry’ – has snowballed since 9/11.
This category is mostly driven by growth in the intelligence community and the Homeland Security Department; both of their budgets have roughly doubled in the decade since 9/11.
State and local governments have also spent billions on homeland security, much of it on expensive technology with questionable value for local communities.
One example, reported in the Los Angeles Times last month: Keith County, Nebraska, population 8,370, spent more than $40,000 on ‘a Zodiac boat with side-scan sonar’ to repel an imagined Al Qaeda ski boat attack.”
– Gregg Carlstrom, “Interactive: How much did 9/11 cost the US? The attacks, which cost perhaps $400,000 to execute, will cost the United States more than $5 trillion.,” Aljazeera.com, Sept. 1, 2011