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Guest Commentary June 21, 2002
President's Homeland Security Proposal Very Bold in Scope, But Very Brief In Detail
The Honorable Fred Thompson
Over the last ten months, the President's Office of Homeland Security closely examined every facet of our homeland security effort. It considered numerous homeland security organizational proposals that emerged from outside studies, commissions, and members of Congress. The Administration eventually came to the conclusion that reorganization on a grand-scale needed to be done. The President's proposal would not have been possible had the Administration not taken the time to conduct its comprehensive review.
This legislative proposal is unique in many ways. Reorganization on this scale has not occurred for fifty years. It moves twenty-two agencies and programs with just under 170,000 employees in a total proposed FY '03 budget of nearly $38 billion. While it is very bold in scope, it is very brief in detail. It gives the new Secretary broad authority to organize his new department without telling him how to do it, unlike other reorganization proposals in the past. While I think that is a good thing for the most part, it will surely engender much discussion, as it should.
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We should not shy away from the fact that, while some bureaucracies will be reduced or eliminated, we are creating a large new bureaucracy with new leadership, a new culture and a new mission. It's going to be complex and it's going to be difficult. However, even advocates of smaller government realize that it is a mission vital to the security of this nation, the most important responsibility of this or any other government.
This new department must improve communication between our border agencies, protect our critical infrastructure, provide up-to-date analysis of the threats facing our nation, and improve and streamline coordination of the federal government's emergency response efforts. Moreover, we will also have to work to ensure that the new department has a clear mission understood by all employees, sufficient research and development capacity, as well as adequate talent for its new intelligence analysis unit.
During this process, we should also consider what tools we should give the Administration and the Secretary of this new department. The President has requested that the Secretary be given great latitude in redeploying resources, both human and financial. I believe the Secretary will need as much flexibility as possible. The ability to develop its own acquisition system, for example, would be an invaluable tool for the new department. Information technology is not something that the Federal government typically does well, but in this new Department, IT must serve as a key backbone, by tying different offices together and allowing the Department to share and analyze critical information. Moreover, the Department should have significant flexibility in hiring processes and compensation systems and practices. Homeland security is too important not to have a high-performance, accountable workforce. Creating a results-based framework of clear strategic and annual goals, linking day-to-day operations to these goals and understanding results being achieved should be guiding principles for this new organization.
But while considering what this new department must and should do, let's be clear about what creating this new department does not do. It does not address the most immediate and troubling deficiencies in our country's intelligence and counter-terrorist capabilities. The areas of most immediate concern, quite frankly even more than reorganization, in our battle against terrorism has to do with the collection, analysis and dissemination of intelligence information. Clearly, the FBI, the CIA and other intelligence-related agencies are in need of substantial reform, a different mind set and a different way of doing business. Reform must be done, not as a part of homeland security legislation, but within those agencies themselves.
Fred Thompson, a Republican, is a U.S. Senator from Tennessee. The above commentary has been adapted from remarks Sen. Thompson made at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Government Reform, June 20, 2002. To contact him, Click Here.
The above column has been distributed by PoliticsOL.com.
