PRESIDENT CALLS FOR ACTION ON HOMELAND SECURITY

By GORDON I. PETERSON

Flanked by senior members of his administration and key congressional lawmakers from both parties, President Bush unveiled the first U.S. National Strategy for Homeland Security in a formal announcement at the White House on 16 July. The president supported calls for a debate on his proposal to create a new Department of Homeland Security, but he also urged Congress to work with his administration to create the new department he says is needed to protect U.S. citizens and win the war against international terrorism.

"All of us agree," Bush said, "that protecting Americans from attack is our most urgent national priority, and that we must act on that priority."
The president's proposed legislation, announced on 6 June, to create a single department charged with responsibility for defense of the U.S. homeland, would--if enacted in its entirety--represent the most significant reorganization of the federal government since passage of the National Security Act of 1947 established the Department of Defense and several other federal agencies.

Young: "Many Concerns"

The proposal to create a single department charged with homeland security is generally well supported in both houses of Congress, but critics have challenged key aspects of the administration's far-reaching reorganization plan.

"I want to make it clear that I do not object to the creation of a Department of Homeland Security," said Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. "However, the bill as introduced raises many concerns which this Congress has a responsibility to address."

Young made his remarks as his committee met on 11 July to make recommendations on the Homeland Security Act of 2002. In a bipartisan vote, the committee amended the administration's proposed legislation by requiring that the Coast Guard remain part of the Department of Transportation and stipulating that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would remain an independent agency. The president's draft legislation calls for the Coast Guard and FEMA to be transferred to the new Department of Homeland Security.

Appearing before the House Select Committee on Homeland Security on 17 July, Young agreed that the president must be given the resources needed to protect the United States from attack, but he said that the Bush plan for homeland security "... simply goes too far and covers too many agencies."

At the same hearing, Rep. James Oberstar of Minnesota, the ranking Democrat on Young's committee, expressed his hope that Congress will develop a bipartisan homeland-security proposal--and charged that there had been an "appalling lack of cooperation" from the administration in providing specific details of its homeland-security plan.

The Need for a Strategy

The Brookings Institution, in a report on homeland security issued on 15 July, also challenged the administration's call for sweeping reorganization.

Saying that "reorganization by itself is not a panacea," James B. Steinberg, Brookings vice president and director of foreign policy studies, acknowledged that a growing consensus exists for the need to consolidate some federal agencies engaged in the homeland-defense mission, but he said that the form such consolidation should take is a matter for debate.

"Most important of all, " Steinberg said, "there is the need for a strategy of homeland security to drive the organization--and not vice versa."
The new Brookings assessment (available on-line at www.brook.edu) supports moving the Coast Guard, Customs Service, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Transportation Security Administration, and the enforcement (but not the service) offices of the Immigration and Naturalization Service into the new department. However, it also recommends retaining FEMA as an independent federal agency for at least the time being.

Brookings also recommended retaining a strong Office of Homeland Security within the White House with responsibilities for coordinating and leading the homeland-security effort. Among its other recommendations are that Congress streamline and reorganize its committee structure and establish standing authorization and appropriations subcommittees specializing in homeland security; that measures be taken to ensure better coordination not only at the federal level but also at the state, local, and private-sector interfaces; and that a single, consolidated, "threat-fusion" intelligence center be created to assess all dimensions of threat assessments, raw intelligence, and law-enforcement data.

New Wave of Terrorism Possible

During his Rose Garden address in July, Bush acknowledged that congressional leaders face a "significant challenge" in reconciling the actions of the numerous committees considering the proposed legislation. The administration's hope, he said, is that Congress will complete its work prior to the August recess so that a homeland-security bill can be enacted before the one-year anniversary of the 11 September terrorist attacks.
"There are a lot of tough decisions that will be made as we develop, discuss, and debate how to move forward," Bush said. "But I'm confident that members of both parties and members of both chambers know that the security of our nation is the goal."

The administration's new homeland-security strategy fills a critical need in linking the need for a massive reorganization of the federal government to a clearly articulated plan and vision.

Developed over the past nine months by the White House Office of Homeland Security, the new strategy's prioritized objectives are to: (1) prevent terrorist attacks within the United States; (2) reduce U.S. vulnerability to terrorism; and (3) minimize whatever damage occurs and quickly recover from such attacks. The strategy emphasizes that the task of mobilizing and organizing the United States to secure the U.S. homeland from terrorist attacks is an "exceedingly complex mission" requiring a coordinated and focused effort from all levels of society.

Administration officials emphasized that the new strategy creates a foundation upon which to organize efforts for the "long struggle" to protect the United States from terrorism.

The report's executive summary states, "Unless we act to prevent it, a new wave of terrorism, potentially involving the world's most destructive weapons, looms in America's future." The strategy states a need for the United States to be able to defend itself against a wide range of means and methods of terrorist attacks, including attacks involving chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons. Numerous other types of terrorist attacks, including cyber attacks, also are possible.

The National Strategy for Homeland Security aligns security functions into six critical mission areas: (1) intelligence and warning; (2) border and transportation security; (3) domestic counterterrorism; (4) protecting critical infrastructure and key assets; (5) defending against catastrophic threats; and (6) emergency preparedness and response. Major initiatives are identified in each mission area.

The new security strategy will be an expensive undertaking at the federal, state, and local levels of government. Estimating that the United States now spends $100 billion per year on homeland security (excluding most funding for the armed forces), the administration acknowledges that the national effort to enhance homeland defense will "... entail substantial financial and other costs."

Work already has begun on the president's fiscal year 2004 budget--which, assuming that Congress will pass legislation to implement the president's proposal to create a Department of Homeland Security, will reflect the homeland-security functions and programs of the reorganized executive branch. During the months ahead, the administration said, detailed implementation plans will be developed for the numerous initiatives in the new homeland-defense strategy.

"In the war on terror, the American people are showing tremendous strength and great resolve," Bush said. "And by acting together to create a new and single Department of Homeland Security, we'll be sending the world a signal that the Congress and the administration will work together to protect the American people--and to win this war on terror."