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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Skywatcher who wrote (57962)	11/20/2002 3:04:45 PM
From: Karen Lawrence	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Ridge: Homeland security transition will be fast, safe Wednesday, November 20, 2002 Posted: 11:42 AM EST (1642 GMT) Yeah, right. IMO there's something wrong with his face. Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge is expected to head the Cabinet department cnn.com WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Office of Homeland Security Adviser Tom Ridge expressed confidence Wednesday that organization of the Department of Homeland Security will be quick and denied that the transition period will temporarily weaken U.S. security. In a 90-9 vote Tuesday, the Senate approved the creation of the huge department -- which includes nearly 170,000 personnel with a $37 billion budget -- and President Bush is expected to sign the bill into law next week, according to a homeland security office spokesman. (Full story) Ridge -- a former Pennsylvania governor and Vietnam War veteran -- said he expected to send Congress an organization plan in less than 60 days. "We have 90 days to get things ready to open the front door," Ridge said in an interview on CNN's "American Morning With Paula Zahn." "And we'll be able to put these 22 departments and agencies together far within the one year that Congress has given the challenge for us." The president is expected to announce his choice to lead the new department at that time, or perhaps shortly thereafter. Bush administration sources have said the president will pick Ridge. "However he thinks I can best serve him and the nation, I am prepared to serve," Ridge said. The legislation cleared a pivotal hurdle Tuesday morning when the Senate, in a 52-47 vote, defeated an amendment to strip out what Democrats had called seven "special-interest" provisions. The controversial provisions, which include liability protections for pharmaceutical manufacturers and companies that develop anti-terrorism technologies, had been inserted into the legislation by House Republicans and approved by the House last week. The new department will combine in a single organization the Secret Service -- currently part of the Treasury Department -- with the Coast Guard, Border Patrol, Immigration and Naturalization Service, Customs Service, Federal Emergency Management Agency and Transportation Security Administration. LEGISLATION HIGHLIGHTS Creates a Cabinet-level department out of all or parts of 22 agencies -- including Customs, INS and the Transportation Security Administration -- with about 170,000 workers and a $37 billion budget. Grants the president flexibility to hire and fire workers, but gives unions a chance to challenge new rules. Approves a plan to allow pilots to carry guns in cockpits. U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, D-Florida, expressed concern that the organization period will weaken U.S. security against terrorist attacks at a bad time -- when Americans may be leading military action against Iraq and possibly prompting retaliatory terrorist attacks in the United States. "When it's fully in place, it will make us stronger and more secure," Graham said. "There will inevitably be a time of learning who your new partners are, what the new rules and expectations are, and during that transition time, we may actually see some degree of lessened homeland security." Ridge said he disagreed with Graham. "I don't share the concern about it being at greater risk, primarily because we have 170,000 patriots -- men and women that have been working on homeland security issues -- and they're going to continue to do their job, the same job they do every day," he said.