Mukasey's Travels

Attorney General Mukasey's personal travels cost the taxpayers $155,800.

Justice Department officials defended Mukasey's personal travel, saying he has no choice but to fly on a government plane to see his family. Mukasey, unlike most other Cabinet members, is required to fly on government planes, rather than commercial ones, for security reasons.

That seems like a reasonable explanation but then there's also this little nugget which seems to suggest a pattern.

As a federal judge in New York, Mukasey was criticized with another judge for the cost of his long-term security detail. Both judges had 24-hour security that cost as much as $6 million a year, including about $20,000 in rent paid annually to each judge because the security officers stayed in their homes.

Mukasey presided over several terrorism trials, raising security concerns, but after a group of U.S. marshals filed a complaint alleging that they were required to perform personal chores for the judges and their families, the security detail stopped. Justice Department officials declined to answer questions about the cost of Mukasey's current security detail, citing concerns for his safety.