[A-List] US: The central state in construction

[Sabri Oncu <soncu@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

One of the existing agencies to be moved under the Homeland
Security Department in construction that the below article does
not mention is Federal Emergency Management Agency or FEMA. Their
strategic plan for 2002-2008 is at:

http://www.fema.gov/library/fy2002_draft.pdf

According to this document, their mission is "Lead America to
prepare for, prevent, respond to, and recover from disasters".
Their definition of "disasters" include not only natural but also
"man-made" disasters. When "disaster" strikes and the President
"grants" a disaster declaration, FEMA coordinates the response,
as the document indicates.

Here is what they say in a box with the heading, "A Nation
Prepared":

"To achieve this vision, FEMA will work to prepare the Nation for
disasters, by encouraging individuals, governmental entities, and
public and private groups at all levels to become aware of the
risks they face, make decisions that help keep people, property
and institutions out of harm's way and possess the capability and
knowledge needed to act when disasters occur."

Sabri

+++++++++++++

House Panel Opens Security Hearings
Tue Jun 11,11:01 AM ET
By CURT ANDERSON, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Six lawmakers who have been pushing creation of
a Homeland Security Department for months praised the thrust of
President Bush ( news - web sites)'s new proposal at a hearing
Tuesday, even as they added to a growing list of questions about
the plan.

At the initial House committee hearing since Bush released his
plan last week, there was bipartisan agreement that creation of
the new Cabinet-level department out of 100 existing federal
entities should be the top congressional priority for the rest of
this year.

"Delay in passing this bill helps the terrorists because it means
were are unprepared that much longer," Rep. Mac Thornberry,
R-Texas, told the House Government Reform subcommittee on
national security.

Sens. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., each
mentioned the arrest of dirty bomb suspect Jose Padilla as
evidence that America remains at risk of attack. Lieberman, lead
sponsor of a Senate homeland security agency bill, said rapid
passage could avert future terrorist disasters.

"I, for one, do not accept as inevitable that there will be
another Sept. 11-type attack," Lieberman said.

Yet Lieberman raised a new question about Bush's plan, suggesting
that federal employee unions were concerned about language they
believed could undermine their collective bargaining authority.
And Specter said it's not clear that Bush's proposal would be
strong enough on coordinating information from the intelligence
agencies ? and addressing their problems.

"There's going to have to be a real authority to dig down and
find out what is going on," Specter said.

Those questions followed a list asked by senior House staffers at
a private briefing Monday by White House Chief of Staff Andrew
Card.

Card acknowledged there would be short-term costs arising from
the security consolidation, but he insisted there would not be
significant longer-term increases in spending or personnel,
according to a participant in the meeting. Card also repeatedly
urged lawmakers to move the plan quickly, said the source,
speaking on condition of anonymity. + Democrats on the House
Appropriations Committee said the White House does not plan to
request money for the new agency until fiscal year 2004 ? which
begins on Oct. 1, 2003. A statement from Rep. David Obey ( news,
bio, voting record), D-Wis., said that could stall implementation
of the plan.

Questions are also being raised by some Republicans and
Democratic lawmakers about plans to have the new department sift
through intelligence gathered by the CIA ( news - web sites), FBI
( news - web sites), National Security Agency and others.
Intelligence analysis will not improve unless the new department
has more direct authority over these agencies, they said.

Seeking to allay these concerns, Director of Homeland Security
Tom Ridge said Monday that the new department would provide a
critical missing piece by synthesizing all the intelligence,
checking it for threats and then acting on those threats.

"Basically, the department will be able to put together all of
the pieces of the puzzle," Ridge told a National Association of
Broadcasters meeting.

The House and Senate intelligence committees, meanwhile, were
meeting behind closed doors again Tuesday to look into lapses in
intelligence sharing by U.S. officials prior to Sept. 11. They
were to hear from their first outside witness, Richard A. Clarke,
President Bush's adviser on cyberspace security. Clarke was
President Clinton ( news - web sites)'s coordinator of
anti-terrorism efforts.

Another flash point over Bush's Homeland Security Department plan
is his proposal to move the Immigration and Naturalization
Service to the new agency from the Justice Department ( news -
web sites).

Some lawmakers object to combining the agency's duty to process
legitimate immigrant visas with the job of border control under
"homeland security," Thornberry said, adding that "it could send
the wrong message, that it's anti-immigrant or something."

Plans to move the Secret Service ( news - web sites) out of the
Treasury Department ( news - web sites) present more problems.
The agency is best known for protecting the president and other
top administration officials, but it also investigates
counterfeiting, credit card fraud and Internet fraud ( news - web
sites).

Other differences between Bush's proposal and bills already
before the House and Senate:

-Several bills would create a White House anti-terrorism office
with an overall job of coordinating intelligence, defense and law
enforcement for the president. Bush would keep the office
occupied by Ridge as it is.

-The president envisions an entire division devoted to chemical,
biological, radiological and nuclear countermeasures with
elements drawn from national laboratories, health agencies and
others. The congressional measures do not have this division.

-Under Bush's proposal, the new department would include the
just-created Transportation Security Administration, which
handles most air travel security issues.

___

The House and Senate bills are H.R. 4660 and S. 2452.

On the Net: Congress: http://thomas.loc.gov

Full at:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020611/ap_wo_
en_po/us_homeland_security_5