My research finds that the bomb-sniffing dogs being trained by the Department of Homeland security are going to cost
10 times as much per dog as the graduates of a similar program going on in Israel. More after the jump.
The New York times reported
this this about the dogs being trained by Homeland Security:
The Department of Homeland Security is spending $2.7 million to provide 30 bomb-sniffing dogs, along with training for their police handlers, to 10 transit agencies, including the subway systems in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington.
This reminded me of a program called Pups for Peace that my synagogue has been actively supporting. It trains bomb-sniffing dogs and their handlers in Israel. So I decided to see what their per-dog costs are. It turns out that their yearly budget is exactly the same, $2.7 million, but they plan to turn out 10 times as many trained dogs:
The Pups for Peace plan entails the training of roughly 300 dogs per year for 3 years. The production methodology has been proved and a sound operational capability is in place. The funding required for this level of production has been budgeted at $2.7 million per year, for 3 years. This includes all cost of operations, capital expenditures, and, of course, dog acquisition.
You have to wonder why Israel can get the same results at one-tenth the expense!