NBC4 brings word that the region's security officials will have to do some belt-tightening this year -- the Department of Homeland Security will be reducing the D.C. area's share of federal anti-terror money from $77.5 million to $46 million. The overall size of the grants will be dropping, but D.C.'s receding share seems to largely be due to a new focus on spreading the money more evenly among different communities.

Admittedly, it could be worse: New York's share of the total grants will be reduced by $83 million. And it's hard not to argue that some of the region's federally-supplied security grants have been misspent — this 2003 Post story springs to mind, which reported that federal security dollars were being spent on such anti-terror initiatives as janitorial service and a $300,000 computerized car-towing system.

But it's also hard to argue with articles like this one, which point out that while small midwestern hamlets aren't all that likely to suffer from terrorist attacks, they're every bit as capable of misspending federal money. We know that as part of the executive branch, DHS is nominally immune to these concerns — but one can't help but wonder if the sudden desire to spread terror dollars around might have more to do with the Hill's current pre-midterm pork frenzy than with making sure the District and the rest of the country are as safe as they can be.