Bush proposes massive overhaul of homeland security agencies

In what would be the biggest restructuring of government since World War II, President Bush proposed Thursday to move seven entire agencies and offices from several others into a new cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security.

"This reorganization will give the good people of our government the best chance to succeed," said Bush in a televised address from the White House. "Employees of this new agency will come to work every morning knowing their most important job is to protect their fellow citizens." The new department would include the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Coast Guard, Transportation Security Administration, Customs Service, Immigration and Naturalization Service (including the Border Patrol), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, and Secret Service.

Offices of some other agencies would also be absorbed, such as the Commerce Department's Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office; the National Domestic Preparedness Office and the National Infrastructure Protection Center at the FBI; and the Federal Protective Service and the Federal Computer Incident Response Capability at the General Services Administration.

The resulting department would have an initial budget of $37 billion and 170,000 employees, making it bigger than all other agencies besides the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs. It would pool the missions and resources of dozens of agencies that currently have responsibility for aspects of homeland security. For example, the department would combine the port security duties of the Coast Guard, Customs, APHIS, and INS under one roof.

These agencies would be organized into four broad operating divisions designed to combine missions and resources that are currently scattered across government. The Coast Guard, TSA, Customs, INS, APHIS and the Federal Protective Service would form a border and transportation security division. An emergency preparedness and response division would include FEMA and offices from Justice and HHS. The Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office, and National Infrastructure Protection Center would form an Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection division. This division would also receive intelligence from the CIA and FBI and provide a central place for the analysis of terrorism threats.

A final division focused on chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear countermeasures would pool the research activities of labs such as the Energy Department's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Plum Island Animal Disease Center, now located in the Agriculture Department.

Only the Coast Guard and the Secret Service would retain their independent identities under this new structure, according to a Bush administration briefing sheet on the proposal. Other agencies would be combined in various ways. Customs and the INS, for example, would pool headquarters staff and inspection duties at ports of entry.

No federal employees would be laid off in the process of creating the department, according to the administration. But the White House argued for giving the department's leaders much more authority over personnel than most current federal managers have.

Affected agencies would continue to perform non-homeland security duties as well. The Coast Guard, for example, would retain its search and rescue and fisheries inspection missions, while Customs would continue to collect import duties.

Under the reorganization, the White House Office of Homeland Security, headed by former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, would continue to exist. Fleischer said Ridge "will be the one fighting for the creation of this department," but refused to say whether he would be appointed to lead it.

Several members of Congress have proposed legislation to create a Cabinet-level homeland security agency. Just last week, in an interview with Government Executive and other National Journal Group publications, Ridge said he would advise President Bush to veto any legislation that would turn his office into a Cabinet department. Ridge said presidents are "entitled to a few advisers" who owe their loyalty solely to the president.

"I believe that the president and future presidents always would be well served having an adviser coordinating the actions among [the] multiple agencies" charged with protecting homeland security, Ridge said. "I don't think you get that if you are accountable to Congress."

Ridge, however, backed the idea of consolidating homeland security operations currently spread among several agencies.

"We've got a lot of well-meaning people at these agencies that have a homeland security function," he said. "They have responsibility, but the lines of accountability are fuzzy. I think in the long term, when you align responsibility and accountability-when you reorganize it-you have an opportunity to bring greater control, greater leadership, a better use of the resources and ultimately you enhance your ability to prevent or respond to a terrorist attack."

Administration officials are clearly concerned about potential problems in winning support for the president's proposal within the agencies.

"Reorganizing the government is never easy," Fleischer said. "It involves turf, it involves hardworking Americans who enjoy being in the agencies that they're in who will have to adjust to change."

Headquarters for the new Department of Homeland Security might be located outside of Washington, the White House indicated, to ensure continuity of operations in the event of a terrorist attack on the nation's capitol.

Administration officials urged members of Congress to act on the proposal before adjourning for the fall elections. The new agency could be up and running by the start of next year.