The Hindu : Bush favours new agency

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 08, 2002

International

International

Bush favours new agency

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

CHARTING A NEW COURSE: The FBI Director, Robert Mueller, explains the agency's reorganisation plan in Washington recently. — Reuters

Washington JUNE 7. In what is being billed as the most "radical'' overhaul of the Government since World War II, the President, George W. Bush, has come up with a Cabinet Agency for Homeland Security aimed at consolidating the work of at least nine Federal departments.

"America is leading the civilised world in a titanic struggle against terror. Freedom and fear are at war — and freedom is winning'', Mr. Bush said in an address to the nation from the White House on Thursday night. He argued that his proposal to create the Department of Homeland Security with a budget of about $37 billions and a workforce of about 170,000 employees will not expand the size and scope of the Federal bureaucracy.

The new agency will be responsible for bolstering transportation security and protecting borders, confronting emergencies and responding to them, preventing attacks using weapons of mass destruction and protecting the critical infrastructure as well as providing a central clearing house for intelligence analysis.

"We face an urgent need and we must move quickly, this year, before the end of the Congressional session'', Mr. Bush said. The President is expected to meet top Congressional leaders at the White House on Friday morning and push to win approval for the new agency. In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, Mr. Bush created the Office of Homeland Security but opposed calls at the time for making it a Cabinet Agency. Headed by Tom Ridge, that was an Executive Office within the White House and outside the purview of Congress. This irritated many members of Congress who demanded an agency that was accountable to Congress. "I am very grateful the President made this proposal tonight. I think the sooner we get it adopted the sooner the American people can feel safer'', the Democratic Senator, Joseph Lieberman, remarked. Mr. Lieberman was one of the first law makers who pressed for a Cabinet level agency.

Although the initial reaction from Capitol Hill has been positive, this new Cabinet Agency proposal is by no means a done deal. The prediction is that major turf battles could be expected as the administration tries to shift agencies like the Secret Service and the Customs Service from the existing departments. What is also being pointed out is that the President's announcement comes at a time when the administration is perhaps preparing for another major military confrontation and showdown, particularly against Iraq which is singled out as the biggest culprit in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

On Thursday, the Vice-President, Dick Cheney, called for a "decisive response'' against Iraq for seeking weapons of mass destruction and its willingness to use them. "This gathering danger requires the most careful, deliberate and decisive response by America and our allies'', Mr. Cheney said in a speech here.

In Europe, the visiting Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, argued that NATO cannot wait until it had absolute proof of a threat to act against terrorists who were aggressively seeking chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. Many of America's allies in Europe and West Asia are opposed to or are wary of a military strike against Iraq.

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