Agence France Presse October 8, 2001
New homeland security chief faces daunting task
BY ROB LEVER
The new US "czar" in the war on terrorism, who took office Monday, faces a daunting task in trying to bring together scores of government agencies to protect the nation from a wide variety of threats. Former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge, 56, was sworn in Monday as head of the Office of Homeland Security, a new position created in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The new agency, which will have about 100 staff, will also work with state and local governments and the private sector, seeking to thwart threats ranging from missile attacks to cyberterrorism. The mission of the office will be "to develop and coordinate the implementation of a comprehensive national strategy to secure the United States from terrorist threats or attacks," according to an executive order signed by President George W. Bush.
"The office will coordinate the executive branch's efforts to detect, prepare for, prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from terrorist attacks within the United States." White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said Ridge will work to coordinate police among some 46 agencies that now have jurisdiction over some areas affecting homeland defense.
But some observers question whether Ridge and his office will have enough clout among the other government bureaucracies including the FBI and CIA as well as the Pentagon.
"Other White House czars who have had similar responsibilities have found that if you don't control the budget you don't have much control," said John Pike, director of Globalsecurity.org, a national security think tank. Pike said the new homeland defense chief would have to get cooperation from a broad variety of agencies, from the Federal Aviation Administration to the Coast Guard, which would have to implement any policy changes.
"No homeland czar can possibly hope to coordinate the almost hopeless dispersal of authority that currently characterizes the 40 or 50 agencies or elements of agencies with some piece of responsibility for protecting our homeland," former senator Gary Hart told a congressional hearing last week.
Representative Porter Goss, who heads the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said the big question is "whether governor Ridge is going to have any troops in this job, or whether he's just going to have phone lines."
But White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Ridge "will have all the authority he needs to get things done. He is a trusted adviser and longtime friend of the president, someone that the president knows can make things happen." Ridge said recently the essential part of the job is that he would have the ear of the president. "They can tell me 'No,'" he said. "They can't tell the president 'No.'"
The idea of a homeland security agency is not new. Congress' General Accounting Office earlier this year noted "that overall leadership and management efforts to combat terrorism are fragmented because there is no single focal point managing and overseeing the many functions conducted by more than 40 different federal departments and agencies."
Pike said it remains unclear however whether the office can carve out a role for itself in the federal bureaucracy. "It's not clear where law enforcement ends and homeland security begins," Pike said. But Pike said that despite the uncertainties, a homeland security agency is a positive move. "We obviously need it, the question is, what is it?" he said. "Everybody agrees we need improvement in homeland defense but no one knows what it looks like."
Copyright 2001 Agence France Presse
