Comprehensive Strategy Now Focus of Homeland Security Office, Ridge Says
(Main mission is to defend against future terrorist threat or attacks) (450) Washington -- Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge says that, while the United States has thus far focused on response and recovery in the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks, the focus now must shift to creating a comprehensive national strategy defending against future terrorist attacks. "That is the main mission of the Office of Homeland Security ... to secure the United States from terrorist threat or attacks," Ridge told a conference on homeland security and defense in Washington November 27. He added that creating "a national homeland defense strategy has never been done before" in the United States. "The challenge is great, but I'm confident we will succeed," he said. Ridge said the principal challenge for homeland security is to focus all the resources available to federal and local governments on developing and implementing the strategy. "Unfortunately, nothing compels us to focus quite as well as tragedy, and the events of September 11th created a shared sense of urgency and a common sense of purpose," he said. "We must be able to detect and deter terrorist threats before they happen, and if America is attacked, to be able to trigger a seamless system of rapid response and recovery." Ridge said the process for creating a national security strategy requires planners to identify security goals and needs, and then fill in any gaps to make the process seamless. And homeland security will develop multi-year budgeting that addresses not only the immediate, urgent requirements of federal agencies, but also the need "to get ahead of the threat," he said. It will become a "blueprint to win wars of the future," Ridge said, and "not preparing to fight the wars of the past." President Bush created the Office of Homeland Security October 8 and selected Ridge, who was then governor of Pennsylvania, to be its first director. Part of the difficult challenge is in enhancing cooperation among federal agencies, and toward this end, consideration is being given to the merger of some agencies, Ridge said. "When you're dealing with an adversary as audacious and as calculating, and as evil and as determined as these terrorists, no system is going to be perfect," he said, adding that that will not keep him from trying. "We also need a strong national biodefense strategy -- a system that strengthens the public health system, increases the ability of local hospitals to handle major public emergencies, and better protects the nation's food supply," Ridge said. (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
