This week President Bush announced his proposal for the creation of a Cabinet level department for homeland security. In what would be the biggest govntanent reorganization in more than 50 years, the new department would take over responsibility for dozens of agencies, including the INS.
The Office of Homeland Security, headed by Tom Ridge , the former governor of Pennsylvania , was created shortly after the September 11th attacks. It has been the subject of much criticism from members of Congress, who say that the office is inadequate to do the job. A number of bills have been introduced that would create a Cabinet-level department, but none goes as far as the White House proposal.
There would be four major divisions within the department, overseeing border security, emergency preparedness, intelligence analysis, and nuclear, biological and chemical weapons threats.
If the new department takes over all the agencies it is proposed to do, it would have almost 170,000 employees and an annual budget of more than billion. Advisors have said that Ridge is Bush’s choice to head the new department, and that if he does not want the position, they may try to recruit former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
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