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Bush Seeks Homeland Security Dept.
Thu Jun 6, 9:31 PM ET
By RON FOURNIER, AP White House Correspondent
WASHINGTON (AP) - Stung by intelligence failures, President Bush (news - web
sites) called on Congress Thursday night to remake the government with a
terrorist-fighting Department of Homeland Security, warning that "thousands of
trained killers are plotting to attack us."
Photos


AP Photo


Audio/Video


Highlights of President Bush's Speech (AP)




Congress welcomed the agency-shuffling plan, even as lawmakers intensified
their inquiry into lapses before the Sept. 11 attacks, hearing from the FBI
(news - web sites) director as well as a whistle-blower who complained about
the FBI's stifling bureaucracy
In a nationally broadcast address, Bush acknowledged that "suspicions and
insights of some of our front-line agents did not get enough attention" and he
urged employees of the CIA (news - web sites), FBI and other intelligence
agencies to report anything that raises concerns.
"We need to know when warnings were missed or signs unheeded — not to point
the finger of blame, but to make sure we correct any problems, and prevent
them from happening again," the president said in his 13-minute address.
The new Department of Homeland Security would inherit 169,000 employees and
$37.4 billion in budgets from the agencies it would absorb, including the
Secret Service (news - web sites), the Coast Guard and the embattled
immigration and customs services. The White House said it would be the biggest
government overhaul in a half-century.
Bush spoke from a lectern placed in the threshold of the White House's Blue
Room, with Washington's stormy evening sky visible through the window over his
shoulder — a fittingly gloomy setting for his words of warning.
"America is leading the civilized world in a titanic struggle against terror,"
the president said, a small American flag pin on his lapel. "Freedom and fear
are at war — and freedom is winning."
Homeland security adviser Tom Ridge, who aides say is virtually certain to be
Bush's nominee to head the Cabinet post, conducted a blitz of interviews after
the presidential speech.
"We're asking the country to do a big thing at a time of crisis and I believe
they're going to do it," Ridge said.
Bush hopes to have the department in place by Jan. 1.
The president said that based on what he knows, "I do not believe anyone could
have prevented the horror of Sept. 11. Yet we now know that thousands of
trained killers are plotting to attack us and this terrible knowledge requires
us to act different."
Reaction was generally positive in Congress, though Democrats said Bush's
action was overdue and likely to be overhauled on Capitol Hill.
"I think they saw they were getting behind the wave," said Senate
Appropriations Chairman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman (news, bio, voting record), D-Conn., co-sponsor of a
homeland security reform bill, said, "We've got to our act together, and this
is the best way to do it quickly."
Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), D-Mass., said he wasn't sure a
reorganization was needed. "The question is whether shifting the deck chairs
on the Titanic is the way to go," he said.
White House officials privately acknowledged the proposal could be drastically
watered down in turf wars as the affected agencies — and the 88 congressional
committees and subcommittees that oversee them — fight to retain power.
"By ending duplication and overlap, we will spend less on overhead and more on
protecting America," Bush said.
The White House unveiled the proposal hours before Bush's address — just as
FBI Director Robert Mueller took his seat before the Senate Judiciary
Committee (news - web sites) to explain why warning signals were missed prior
to the September attacks.
"The need for change was apparent even before Sept. 11. It has become more
urgent since then," Mueller said in a nationally televised hearing.
Later, FBI whistle-blower Coleen Rowley told the lawmakers mistakes are
inevitable in an agency hampered by an "ever-growing bureaucracy."
The White House said its reorganization will not cost more money; it will
shuffle current operations within the government without expanding the
bureaucracy.
The proposal itself is a marked reversal for Bush. He rejected pleas from
Congress last fall to create a Cabinet position and chose instead to install
Ridge as an informal adviser. That shielded Ridge from being compelled to
testify before Congress.
The new department would have four divisions:
_Border Transportation and Security, which would take over the Immigration and
Naturalization Service from the Department of Justice (news - web sites), the
Customs Service from Treasury and the Coast Guard from the Department of
Transportation.
_Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection, which would draw from
several agencies including the FBI and CIA to fuse and analyze information
about potential threats.
_Emergency Preparedness and Response, which would include FEMA, now an
independent agency.
_Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Countermeasures, which would
take over the Lawrence Livermore National Lab in California. The departments
of Health and Human Services (news - web sites) and Agriculture would lose
divisions to this office, which would prepare the country for a full range of
terrorist threats.
The Secret Service, which specializes in threat assessments and security at
high-profile events, would remain intact after moving from Treasury to the new
department.
It was unclear what authority any new secretary of homeland security would
have over the FBI and CIA. A senior administration official briefing reporters
at the White House said the secretary could not order — only strongly suggest —
that the FBI investigate a lead.

Bardzo czarne scenariusze Białego Domu

Biały Dom zaserwował Amerykanom porcję bardzo czarnych scenariuszy, mających
uzasadnić przedstawiony w czwartek przez prezydenta plan powołania
ministerstwa, na którym spocznie odpowiedzialność za zapewnienie krajowi
bezpieczeństwa.

Zabójcza substancja z arsenału wojny chemicznej lub biologicznej zostaje
uwolniona w którymś z amerykańskich miast. Przerażeni Amerykanie otrzymują
ostrzeżenia i rady od całej plejady rządowych agencji, których nazwy są
niewiele mówiącymi akronimami. Nie ma jednego, konkretnego ośrodka dowodzenia.
To tylko jeden z koszmarnych scenariuszy, przytoczonych na poparcie planów
stworzenia resortu, który skupi pod jednym dachem mnóstwo różnych agencji;
agencji, które są odpowiedzialne za bezpieczeństwo Amerykanów w ich własnym
kraju, ale które nie zdołały zapobiec temu, co stało się 11 września.

Proponowane przez prezydenta George'a W. Busha ministerstwo bezpieczeństwa
wewnętrznego (Department of Homeland Security) - o ile Kongres zgodzi się na
jego utworzenie - byłoby jedynym organem, komunikującym się z Amerykanami w
razie ataku chemicznego lub biologicznego.

Obecnie różne aspekty takiego ataku leżałyby w gestii HHS, FEMA, EPA, GSA,
FBI, DOJ, OSHA, OPM, USPS, DOD, USAMRIID i naczelnego lekarza kraju, nie
wspominając o mnóstwie agencji stanowych i lokalnych. (HHS - Department of
Health & Human Services - resort zdrowia i świadczeń socjalnych; FEMA -
Federal Emergency Management Agency - federalna agencja ds. sytuacji
nadzwyczajnych; EPA - Environmental Protection Agency - agencja ochrony
środowiska; DOJ - Departament of Justice - resort sprawiedliwości; OSHA -
Occupational Safety & Health Administration - urząd, zajmujący się
zagrożeniami zdrowotnymi w miejscu pracy; OPM - Office of Personnel
Management - swego rodzaju rządowe biuro kadr; USPS - United States Postal
Service - poczta; DOD - Departament of Defence - resor