Regardless of the politics involved – and the recent warnings of potential terrorism in the nation’s key financial districts are fraught with partisan positioning – the fortresses built around landmarks of capitalism in Newark, Manhattan and Washington, D.C., are a chilling reminder of the costs of remaining secure.

In the nation’s capital, for example, the cost of closing the street that runs between the Russell and Dirksen Senate office buildings is estimated at $3 million a month. At that rate, Iowa’s share of homeland security money, $30 million, would be gone in 10 weeks. And that’s just the cost to secure the Capitol, which wasn’t on the list of al-Qaeda targets spelled out last week by Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.

The new terror alert comes as Congress faces pressure to change the distribution formula for homeland security grants and give more money to cities most likely to be targeted. Earlier this summer, the House defeated an amendment that would have shifted $446 million from a nationwide first-responder program to the 50 cities most at risk for a terrorist attacks, but the call for a new distribution formula has resurfaced with the recent terror warnings. With merit on both sides of the argument and a shortage of homeland security money – with or without changes in the way the money is allocated to states – Iowans can’t afford to sit back and wait to see how it all works out.

It’s easy to be complacent and feel buffered from terror threats. Though Des Moines is the third-largest insurance center in the country, isn’t it a little far-fetched to think al-Qaeda would attack the city? The optimistic answer is “Probably.” “Maybe not” is more realistic. To think that Des Moines could never be a target is foolish. Al-Qaeda’s operatives are patient and methodical in their plot to undermine America’s spirit. Thinking like a terrorist is foreign to us, but we’ve learned since Sept. 11, 2001, to contemplate the unimaginable.

The Des Moines police and fire departments have enumerated $1.4 million in bare-bones equipment purchases, including equipment the FBI is requiring, that should be made immediately for emergency workers to properly and safely respond to an attack. There’s no money to pay for it.

Des Moines businessman Ted Townsend is asking some of the city’s wealthiest residents and companies to meet the challenge of properly equipping the city’s emergency responders. It’s a noble effort, but he’s raised only $125,000 toward the $1 million goal since he launched the campaign last spring. It’s time for Des Moines’ civic leaders to stand up and do what is right.