The Hindu : Bush campaigns for homeland security department

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 25, 2002

International

International

Bush campaigns for homeland security department

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

New York JUNE 24. The U.S. President, George W Bush, made yet another push for his Homeland Security Department by arguing that it was only proper to have the agencies involved in the security of America come under one roof. ``It is the right thing to do to have the over 100 agencies involved in homeland security under one authority so we can have authority and accountability,'' Mr. Bush told border control agents in Port Elizabeth, New Jersey.

``It'll make your jobs easier...It'll make our federal Government more responsive. It'll allow us to communicate better,'' the President remarked making the point that improved knowledge and risk-management techniques were already making imports safer.

Federal authorities are particularly worried about the movement of containers. The containers from foreign ports are loaded onto trucks or trains for nationwide delivery. There is a fear that terrorists could use containers to smuggle weapons of mass destruction. It is pointed out that Port Elizabeth and Port Newark form the largest seaport in the United States' East Coast.

Mr. Bush used the occasion to pay tribute to the 75 Port Authority workers who were killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. ``Being here reminds me that the country still continues to pay tribute to the heroism of September 11, and we must,'' the President said.

The White House has been actively campaigning for the new Homeland Security Department presided over by a Cabinet official. Although Congress is expected to go along with the President's plan, it is not going to be without a debate. As it is, concerns are being raised on the future effectiveness of the nodal intelligence agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency under the new scheme of things. Even as the President was making a short trip to New Jersey that includes a fund-raising luncheon for a Republican Member of the House of Representatives, a lot of attention was being paid on whether or not Mr. Bush will deliver his much-anticipated speech on West Asia where he is to outline plans for a Provisional Palestinian State.

One speculation is that the President may give his speech on Monday afternoon for he is set to leave Tuesday for the G-8 summit in Alberta, Canada. ``You will hear when I'm ready,'' Mr. Bush once again told reporters in Newark even as administration officials have been making the point that the President has finalised his outline. But the idea of a Provisional State of Palestine has its share of sceptics on Capitol Hill. ``I don't know what a provisional state means. I'm for a permanent Palestinian state; and that will come only as a result of negotiations between both sides,'' remarked Senator Joseph Lieberman, a Democratic hopeful for the Presidential election of 2004.

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