Insecure Politicians

It reminds me of much criticized Pakistan's Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) due to similar reasons. So the lesson is that Developing world is not the only one that is suffering from these inefficiencies. Actually, the politicians feel insecure about their re-election if they do not plunder and spend money in their own constituencies. So who cares about Nations security and Development.

An Insecure Nation: Security Loses; Pork Wins - New York Times: "But Congress likes inflexible formulas because they allow members to grab homeland security dollars for their own districts and constituents, whether they need them or not. Rather than dole out homeland security money according to a system based entirely on risk, Congress builds in guaranteed state minimums - money that goes to a state regardless of the risks and threats it faces. This way, money that the Homeland Security Department may want to use to protect New York's subways or Texas' chemical plants ends up in Nebraska."