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Creating the Department of Homeland Security: Consideration of the Administration's Proposal
Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
The Honorable Tom Ridge
Introduction Chairman
Greenwood, Congressman Deutsch, Subcommittee Members, I appreciate the
opportunity to testify today in support of the President's historic proposal
to unify our homeland security efforts under one Cabinet-level Department of
Homeland Security. Since
the terrorist attacks of 9-11, all of America has risen to the challenge of
improving the security of our homeland. In
partnership with Congress, with states and localities, and with the private
sector and academia, we have worked to map and protect our critical
infrastructure, including nuclear power plants; to seal our borders from
terrorists and their deadly cargo; to strengthen enforcement of our immigration
laws; and to prepare for and prevent attacks involving weapons of mass
destruction. The
President believes our nation must now take the next critical step by unifying
our efforts under a single Department of Homeland Security.
Only Congress can create such a Department, and I am here today to
personally convey the President's deep desire to work with Members to
accomplish this goal. He believes
the creation of a single Department with a single, clear line of authority would
not only improve our preparedness for a future attack, but also strengthen these
partnerships, thereby helping to prevent a future attack. Earlier
this month, the President signed an Executive Order appointing me as Director of
the Transition Planning Office for the Department of Homeland Security, to be
housed within the Office of Management and Budget.
While I will still retain the title of Assistant to the President and
Homeland Security Advisor, my testimony today will be given as the Director of
this new entity. I look forward to responding to your questions after
providing a short statement on the proposed legislation and how it would make
Americans safer. The
President's Proposal On
June 6, 2002, President Bush addressed the nation and put forth his vision to
create a permanent Cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security.
Two days ago, on June 18, 2002, I delivered to the Congress the
President's proposed legislation for establishing the new Department.
This is an historic proposal. It
would be the most significant transformation of the U.S. government in over a
half-century. It would transform
and largely realign the government's confusing patchwork of homeland security
activities into a single department whose primary mission is to protect our
homeland. The proposal to create a
Department of Homeland Security is one more key step in the President's
national strategy for homeland security. It
is crucial that we take this historic step.
At the beginning of the Cold War, President Truman recognized the need to
reorganize our national security institutions to meet the Soviet threat.
We emerged victorious from that dangerous period thanks in part to
President Truman's initiative. Today
we are fighting a new war against a new enemy.
President Bush recognizes that the threat we face from terrorism requires
a reorganization of government similar in scale and urgency to the unification
of the Defense Department and creation of the CIA and NSC.
Currently,
no federal government department has homeland security as its primary mission.
In fact, responsibilities for homeland security are dispersed among more
than 100 different government organizations.
Creating a unified homeland security structure will align the efforts of
many of these organizations and ensure that this crucial mission - protecting
our homeland - is the top priority and responsibility of one department and
one Cabinet secretary. Immediately after last fall's attack, the President took decisive steps to protect America - from hardening cockpits and stockpiling vaccines to tightening our borders. The President used his legal authority to establish the White House Office of Homeland Security and the Homeland Security Council to ensure that our federal response and protection efforts were coordinated and effective. The President also directed me, as Homeland Security Advisor, to study the federal government as a whole to determine if the current structure allows us to meet the threats of today while anticipating the unknown threats of tomorrow. After careful study of the current structure - coupled with the experience gained since September 11 and new information we have learned about our enemies while fighting a war - the President concluded that our nation needs a more unified homeland security structure.
The
Department of Homeland Security The
creation of the Department of Homeland Security would empower a single Cabinet
official whose primary mission is to protect the American homeland from
terrorism. The mission of the
Department would be to:
The
Department of Homeland Security would mobilize and focus the resources of the
federal government, state and local governments, the private sector, and the
American people to accomplish its mission.
It would have a clear, efficient organizational structure with four
divisions.
Information
Analysis and Infrastructure Protection The
Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection section of the Department of
Homeland Security would complement the reforms on intelligence and
information-sharing already underway at the FBI and the CIA.
The Department would analyze information and intelligence for the purpose
of understanding the terrorist threat to the American homeland and foreseeing
potential terrorist threats against the homeland.
Furthermore,
the Department would comprehensively assess the vulnerability of America's key
assets and critical infrastructures, including food and water systems,
agriculture, health systems and emergency services, information and
telecommunications, banking and finance, energy (electrical, nuclear, gas and
oil, dams), transportation (air, road, rail, ports, waterways), the chemical and
defense industries, postal and shipping entities, and national monuments and
icons. Critically, the
Department would integrate its own and others' threat analyses with its
comprehensive vulnerability assessment for the purpose of identifying protective
priorities and supporting protective steps to be taken by the Department, other
federal departments and agencies, state and local agencies, and the private
sector. Working closely with state
and local officials, other federal agencies, and the private sector, the
Department would help ensure that proper steps are taken to protect high-risk
potential targets. In
short, the Department would for the first time merge under one roof the
capability to identify and assess threats to the homeland, map those threats
against our vulnerabilities, issue timely warnings, and organize preventive or
protective action to secure the homeland. Chemical,
Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Countermeasures The
war against terrorism is also a war against the most deadly weapons known to
mankind - chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons.
If the terrorists acquire these weapons, they will use them with
consequences that could be far more devastating than those we suffered on
September 11th. Currently, our
efforts to counter the threat of these weapons to the homeland are too few and
too fragmented. We must launch a
systematic national effort against these weapons that is equal to the threat
they pose. The
President's proposed legislation would accomplish this goal.
It would authorize the Department of Homeland Security to lead the
federal government's efforts in preparing for and responding to the full range
of terrorist threats involving weapons of mass destruction.
To do this, the Department would set national policy and establish
guidelines for state and local governments.
It would direct exercises and drills for federal, state, and local
chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) attack response teams and
plans. The result of this effort would be to consolidate and
synchronize the disparate efforts of multiple federal agencies currently
scattered across several departments. This
would create a single office whose primary mission is the critical task of
protecting the United States from catastrophic terrorism. The
Department would serve as a focal point for America's premier centers of
excellence in the field. It would
manage national efforts to develop diagnostics, vaccines, antibodies, antidotes,
and other countermeasures. It would
consolidate and prioritize the disparate homeland security related research and
development programs currently scattered throughout the Executive Branch.
It would also assist state and local public safety agencies by evaluating
equipment and setting standards. Border
and Transportation Security Our
number one priority is preventing future terrorist attacks.
Because terrorism is a global threat, we must attain complete control
over whom and what enters the United States in order to achieve this priority.
We must prevent foreign terrorists from entering our country and bringing
in instruments of terror. At the
same time, we must expedite the legal flow of people and goods on which our
economy depends.
Protecting
our borders and controlling entry to the United States has always been the
responsibility of the Federal government. Yet,
this responsibility is currently dispersed among more than five major government
organizations in five different departments.
Therefore, under the President's proposed legislation, the Department
of Homeland Security would for the first time unify authority over major federal
security operations related to our borders, territorial waters, and
transportation systems. The
Department would assume responsibility for operational assets of the United
States Coast Guard, the United States Customs Service, the Immigration and
Naturalization Service (including the Border Patrol), the Animal and Plant
Health Inspection Service, and the Transportation Security Administration.
The Secretary of Homeland Security would have the authority to administer
and enforce all immigration and nationality laws, including, through the
Secretary of State, the visa issuance functions of consular officers.
As a result, the Department would have sole responsibility for managing
entry into the United States and protecting our transportation infrastructure.
It would ensure that all aspects of border control, including the issuing
of visas, are informed by a central information-sharing clearinghouse and
compatible databases. Emergency
Preparedness and Response Although
our top priority is preventing future attacks, we cannot assume that we will
always succeed. Therefore, we must
also prepare to minimize the damage and recover from attacks that do occur.
The President's proposed legislation would require the Department of
Homeland Security to ensure the preparedness of our nation's emergency
response professionals, provide the federal government's emergency response to
terrorist attacks and natural disasters, and aid America's recovery.
To
fulfill these missions, the Department would oversee federal government
assistance in the domestic disaster preparedness training of first responders
and would coordinate the government's disaster response efforts.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would become a central
component of the Department of Homeland Security, and the new Department would
administer the grant programs for firefighters, police, emergency personnel, and
citizen volunteers currently managed by FEMA, the Department of Justice, and the
Department of Health and Human Services. The
Department would manage certain crucial elements of the federal government's
emergency response assets, such as the Strategic National Stockpile.
In the case of an actual or threatened terrorist attack, major disaster,
or other emergency, the Secretary of Homeland Security would have the authority
to call on other response assets, including Energy's and the EPA's Nuclear
Incident Response teams, as organizational units of the Department.
Finally, the Department would integrate the federal interagency emergency
response plans into a single, comprehensive, government-wide plan, and ensure
that all response personnel have the equipment and capability to communicate
with each other as necessary. State/Local
Government & Private Sector Coordination The
Department of Homeland Security would consolidate and streamline relations on
homeland security issues with the federal government for America's state and
local governments, as well as the private sector. It would contain an intergovernmental affairs office to
coordinate federal homeland security programs with state and local officials.
It would give state and local officials one primary contact instead of
many when it comes to matters related to training, equipment, planning, and
other critical needs such as emergency response. Secret
Service The
Department of Homeland Security would incorporate the Secret Service, which
would report directly to the Secretary. The
Secret Service would remain intact and its primary mission will remain the
protection of the President and other government leaders.
The Secret Service would also continue to provide security for designated
national events, as it did for the recent Olympics and the Super Bowl. Non-Homeland
Security Functions The
Department of Homeland Security would have a number of functions that are not
directly related to securing the homeland against terrorism.
For instance, through FEMA, it would be responsible for mitigating the
effects of natural disasters. Through
the Coast Guard, it would be responsible for search and rescue, navigation, and
other maritime functions. Several
other border functions, such as drug interdiction operations and naturalization,
and would also be performed by the new Department. White
House Office of Homeland Security and Homeland Security Council The
President intends for the White House Office of Homeland Security and the
Homeland Security Council to continue to play a key role, advising the President
and coordinating a vastly simplified interagency process.
Making
Americans Safer The
Department of Homeland Security would make Americans safer because our nation
would have:
The
New Department Would Improve Security Without Growing Government The
Department of Homeland Security must be an agile, fast-paced, and responsive
organization that takes advantage of 21st-century technology and management
techniques to meet a 21st-century threat. The
creation of a Department of Homeland Security would not "grow"
government. The new Department
would be funded within the total monies requested by the President in his FY
2003 budget already before Congress for the existing components. In fact, the President's FY 2003 budget will increase the
resources for the component parts by $14 billion over the FY 2002 budget.
We expect that the cost of the new elements (such as the threat analysis
unit and the state, local, and private sector coordination functions), as well
as department-wide management and administration units, can be funded from
savings achieved by eliminating redundancies inherent in the current structure. In
order to respond to rapidly changing conditions, the Secretary would need to
have great latitude in re-deploying resources, both human and financial.
The Secretary should have broad reorganizational authority in order to
enhance operational effectiveness, as needed.
Moreover, the President will request for the Department significant
flexibility in hiring processes, compensation systems and practices, and
performance management to recruit, retain, and develop a motivated,
high-performance and accountable workforce.
Finally, the new Department should have flexible procurement policies to
encourage innovation and rapid development and operation of critical
technologies vital to securing the homeland. Working
Together to Create the Department of Homeland Security President
Bush recognizes that only the Congress can create a new department of
government. During his June 6th
address to the nation, the President asked Congress to join him in establishing
a single, permanent department with an overriding and urgent mission: securing
the homeland of America, and protecting the American people.
I am here to ask, as the President did, that we move quickly.
The need is urgent. Therefore,
the President has asked Congress to pass his proposal this year, before the end
of the congressional session. Preliminary
planning for the new Department has already begun. The formal transition would begin once Congress acts on the
President's proposed legislation and the President signs it into law.
Under the President's plan, the new Department would be established by
January 1, 2003, with integration of some components occurring over a longer
period of time. To avoid gaps in leadership coverage, the President's
proposal contemplates that appointees who have already been confirmed by the
Senate would be able to transfer to new positions without a second confirmation
process.
During
this transition period, the Office of Homeland Security will maintain vigilance
and continue to coordinate the other federal agencies involved in homeland
security. Until the Department of
Homeland Security becomes fully operational, the proposed Department's
designated components will continue to operate under existing chains of command.
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