The other argument I hear in these cases (but would be interested to know the truth of, if only because it asserts that pretty gigantic amounts of money being spent are the default condition) is that some or even all of the non-civilian assets currently dedicated to searching would otherwise be conducting a drill, of some flavor, and of roughly commensurate expense.
That certainly isn’t wildly implausible, sitting at the docks and admiring your shiny readiness probably doesn’t actually lead to shiny readiness; so a great deal of expensive drilling probably does happen; but it does jar a bit with the “Oh, we are so very, very, serious about this tragedy that we are taking extraordinary measures. If our pollsters say you are still upset, we will announce, in grave tones, how our concern has led us to redouble our measures tomorrow or maybe next week.” narrative invariably provided by whoever is taking the heat about a given accident.
They can’t both be true, either the degree of drilling in absence of incident is overstated, or the “Oh, takin’ this seriously, Epic Leadership You Can Trust!” act is intended to sharply overstate both the intensity and the ramp-up of intensity as time goes on. I strongly suspect that the latter is always heavy on nonsense; but I don’t know about the former.
