Lacking a strategy, homeland security languishes
The Bush administration is not doing enough to protect Americans from future terrorist attacks, according to lawmakers and a new study on homeland security released Tuesday by the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.
The study, "Protecting the American Homeland: A Preliminary Analysis," concludes that the White House Office of Homeland Security lacks both a strategy and the authority necessary to direct the efforts of dozens of agencies and offices across government that play a role in security. In addition, the administration has been so focused on preventing a recurrence of the type of attacks that occurred on Sept. 11 that it has neglected other important vulnerabilities.
The administration "concentrates on the 'last war,' rather than the possible next one," and has emphasized protecting specific targets against attack rather than taking steps to prevent attacks in the first place, the report says.
The study proposes that homeland security be framed around four key issues: perimeter security at the borders; preventive activities within the country; protection of domestic sites; and consequence management after an attack. It advocates taking specific steps, such as expanding the Coast Guard, Customs Service, Immigration and Naturalization Service and the FBI beyond current administration proposals; creating a standardized database for drivers' license information, that perhaps would include biometric data; tracking the whereabouts of hazardous cargo; and improving air-handling systems to prevent the introduction of biological weapons or chemical agents in large buildings.
Ivo Daalder, a senior fellow at Brookings and one of the study's authors, said the White House Office of Homeland Security and its director, Tom Ridge, needed to have statutory authority. In addition, Daalder said, a single Cabinet-level agency should be created to manage border security.
Such an agency would include elements of the six agencies that currently have responsibility for border security: the Defense Department, which controls air space; the Agriculture Department, which is responsible keeping dangerous pathogens from entering the food supply; the State Department, which issues visas; the Justice Department, the parent agency of the INS, which includes the Border Patrol; the Transportation Department, which includes the Coast Guard and the Transportation Safety Administration; and the Treasury Department, which includes Customs.
All of these agencies are critical players in border security, yet none of them are primarily focused on border security, Daalder said. Nonetheless, simply creating a new border agency won't cure what ails homeland security, because homeland security involves far more than securing the borders, he said.
Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., and Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., praised Brookings for crafting a broad plan for dealing with the problem. Neither the administration nor Congress has addressed homeland security needs in a comprehensive, meaningful way, said Harman.
"This report should have been written by Tom Ridge's office some months ago," she said. Both Harman and Thompson criticized the White House for not providing a strategy by now. The administration plans to release a homeland security strategy in early July, officials said.
"Until we have a strategy there is no sensible way to put our resources against our vulnerabilities," Harman said.