Homeland Security

DATE=11/21/02

TYPE=INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT

TITLE=SLOAN / SECURITY

NUMBER=3-431

BYLINE=TOM CROSBY

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

INTERNET=

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INTRO: While in Prague for this week's meeting of the leaders of NATO member nations, President Bush praised the Senate for passing legislation that creates a new cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security. The department will bring together 170-thousand workers from more than 20 federal agencies. Tom Ridge, the man who will most likely head up that department, believes that with the creation of this entity...Americans now have every reason to feel safer:

Steve Sloan is a political scientist at the University of Oklahoma and a leading authority on terrorism. He told V-O-A's Tom Crosby it is a little too soon to say whether a Department of Homeland Security will make Americans feel any more secure from terrorists:

MR. SLOAN: I think in one sense it gives them a feeling that something is being done, and something rather fundamental. But on the other sense, in the longer term -- which means like next week -- if there is another incident or, God forbid, a spectacular, that appearance of security will quickly evaporate.

MR. CROSBY: Tom Ridge, the President's advisor on homeland security and the man most likely to head up that department when it is created, said that within two months he could have a plan for organization in front of the Congress~--~but who knows how long after that it will take to actually get this in place? I'm sure that critics would be asking people like yourself, who have expertise in terrorism, are the terrorists going to wait while they get organized?

MR. SLOAN: Well, no, they're not going to wait. They have their own agenda, and they are not going to be responding to the changing bureaucratic organizational framework of the American effort to combat terrorism. No, I don't think so at all.

MR. CROSBY: So, the question arises then, how long does it take to get something like this in place?

MR. SLOAN: Well, that's a major question. First of all, I should say one of the concerns we have right now is are we attempting, ultimately, to have a bureaucratic solution of a massive transformation in government that compares to the National Security Act of 1947? Will that transformation meet the threat?

I think one of the concerns, both in the short and the long term, is will this lead to more unity of effort and the coordination of effort, as it is supposed to do, or will it add another layer of massive bureaucracy and create even further turf battles among the disparate agencies that are now members of this team?

MR. CROSBY: Is that a question that you think you have an answer to?

MR. SLOAN: I, quite frankly, think it is a little too early to say. But I will also note that it does not specifically address the fact that the intelligence community~-- in this case, particularly the CIA and the FBI~--~their role is not clearly defined yet. As you know, this new entity will have analytical capabilities and it will be able to draw on law enforcement intelligence from other entities within it. But, quite frankly, one of the major concerns still is, what about fundamental reform within the intelligence community, most notably the CIA and the FBI? That still has not been effectively addressed.

INTRO: Steve Sloan who both writes about and consults on the matter of terrorism and security. He was speaking from Norman, Oklahoma with V-O-A's Tom Crosby.

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