Homeland security report will lack consensus, Ridge says

A report due to the president by mid-year on the status of homeland security likely will not have consensus, White House Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said Monday.

"I already told the president, 'Do not expect a consensus document,'" Ridge said at the Council of the Americas annual conference at the State Department. "We do not have time to build consensus."

The report will be a recommendation from his office on the "best way forward" in addressing homeland security, Ridge said.

Ridge drew attention to the need to reorganize the federal government's structure on borders and immigration. There are nearly a dozen agencies that deal with borders "put together over decades, if not centuries," he said. These might have been appropriate for the 18th century, but might not be right for the 21st century, he said.

Terrorist threats must be seen as long-term, he said. "These threats aren't going away," Ridge said. "There will be a successor to [Osama] bin Laden, there will be a successor to al Qaeda."

The United States hopes to present a proposal to harmonize security measures at sea and airports to the Group of Eight industrialized nations in late June, he said.

Ridge told the business leaders that he recognizes a single-minded focus on border security would be harmful to international trade by blocking border flows. That recognition led to the "smart border" accord recently struck between the United States and both Canada and Mexico.

Ridge stressed his philosophy of "risk management" in dealing with terrorist threats. Because it is "inconceivable" to protect 100 percent of Americans 100 percent of the time, the government must prioritize its security strategy, he said.

One way is to segregate at the border people and cargo that are known to the government and are considered low risk from those who are not known or are considered high risk.

New technologies will help with detection. For instance, in El Paso, Texas, there are X-ray machines and laser-distance calculators that show whether the size of the carrying space in the truck matches the amount reported on the shipping manifest. He noted a case in which a truck was reported as having 28 feet of cargo space, but actually had been expanded two more feet toward the cab. This could be used for smuggling drugs or people, he said.

But this cannot be used on every truck because of the traffic delays it would cause, he said. So it is critical for the private sector to participate in a program to pre-clear goods or cargo before it arrives at the border.

He said trucks crossing under the pre-clearance program should be able to pass through the special lane in about 20 seconds, though some randomly could be pulled over for checks. With technology, border agents will know immediately a full range of information about the truck, including the identification of the driver and company, contents, and origin of contents.

"We're going to have to work with the private sector," Ridge said. "We're asking companies to accept the responsibility."