Steve Quayle News Alerts

June 6, 2002

WASHINGTON — President Bush will address the nation Thursday night to unveil a major homeland security program, including the creation of a new anti-terrorism intelligence agency.

Bush will propose creation of a Cabinet homeland security office that will draw from eight current agencies in what spokesman Ari Fleischer said is the biggest government restructuring since the Truman administration.

Bush's speech, expected to last about 15 minutes, will be carried live at 8 p.m. on the Fox News Channel and other television networks.

Fleischer said the new agency will oversee border and transportation security; emergency preparation and response; chemical, biological and nuclear countermeasures; the analysis of intelligence from the FBI, CIA and other agencies.

Fleischer said the FBI and CIA will remain as independent agencies, not seeing major changes under the proposal. Congress will have to pass legislation to implement the plan. Sources said Bush will ask for its passage by year's end.

"The president believes that as has been done by the various entities of the government with great success, we can and will do more," Fleischer said.

He also said the plan will not cost more money, but will shuffle current operations within the government without expanding the bureaucracy.

It's not clear if the new agency would be headed by current Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge. The head of the new agency would have to be confirmed by the Senate.

But Fleischer suggested Ridge would have a major role in the shaping of the organization.

"Let me put it to you this way, Governor Ridge will be the one fighting for the creation of this department. Governor Ridge will be the voice and the face of the message for creating this department."

Fleischer said "recent noise" about counterterrorism failures at the FBI and CIA did not precipitate the president's plan. But, the spokesman added, "There is the recognition that we still need to keep the FBI and CIA working closely together and this new entity will be one place where information will get pulled together."

Ridge and White House congressional liaison Nicholas Calio have been consulting members of Congress. "The initial reaction from the Hill has been good but reorganizing the government has never been easy; it involves turf," Fleischer said.

Many members of Congress have called on Bush to give Ridge and his office Cabinet status.

The announcement of what some officials are calling Bush's "massive" reorganization of federal intelligence agencies comes as Congress gears up its investigation into potential security lapses prior to Sept. 11. FBI Director Robert Mueller was testifying Thursday about the agency's failure to anticipate the terror attacks.

The new agency will supplement efforts of the FBI, the CIA and other intelligence agencies, not replace them.

With 100 executive-branch entities and 88 congressional committees and subcommittees now sharing jurisdiction over homeland security, coordination has become unmanageable, a top White House official said.

This source described one scene illustrating the problem: When Bush summoned relevant committee chairmen and ranking members to the White House last October, they had to be divided into two groups for separate meetings that still filled the Cabinet Room beyond capacity.

Bush, who expressed support for the FBI and CIA in the early days of the controversy, acknowledged for the first time this week the agencies failed to communicate adequately. But he said there was no evidence that better communication could have prevented the attacks.

Mueller conceded for the first time recently that a better analysis of warning signs might have prevented the attacks.

Ridge, a former Pennsylvania governor, has been working on a restructuring proposal since his appointment last fall — meeting heavy resistance from law enforcement and intelligence bureaucracies.

One senior White House official familiar with the tightly held plan said the proposal will include elements of Ridge's push to consolidate border-security agencies.

On Capitol Hill, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said Congress had no inkling Bush was planning this reorganization.

"I think this is a very strong departure from the current situation," Kennedy said. "We'll have to listen to their rationale and to the Senate and House intelligence committees and see what they think about this."

Kennedy added that he wasn't sure whether an internal reorganization was needed.

Fox News' Wendell Goler and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,54617,00.html