For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
June 6, 2002
President to Propose Department of Homeland Security
Press Secretary's Morning Conversation with Reporters
The President's most important job is to protect and defend the
American people. Since September 11, all levels of government have
cooperated like never before to strengthen aviation and border
security, stockpile more medicines to defend against bioterrorism,
improve information sharing among our intelligence agencies, and
deploy more resources and personnel to protect our critical
infrastructure.
The changing nature of the threats facing America requires a new
government structure to protect against invisible enemies that can
strike with a wide variety of weapons. Today no one single
government agency has homeland security as its primary mission. In
fact, responsibilities for homeland security are dispersed
among more than 100 different government organizations. America
needs a single, unified homeland security structure that will improve
protection against today's threats and be flexible enough to help meet
the unknown threats of the future.
The President proposes to create a new Department of Homeland
Security, the most significant transformation of the U.S.
government in over a half-century by largely transforming and
realigning the current confusing patchwork of government activities
into a single department whose primary mission is to protect our
homeland. The creation of a Department of Homeland Security is one
more key step in the President's national strategy for homeland
security.
Immediately after last fall's attack, the President took decisive
steps to protect America -- from hardening cockpits and
stockpiling vaccines to tightening our borders. The President used
his maximum legal authority to establish the White House Office of
Homeland Security and the Homeland Security Council to ensure that our
federal response and protection efforts were coordinated and
effective. The President also directed Homeland Security Advisor
Tom Ridge to study the federal government as a whole to determine if
the current structure allows us to meet the threats of today while
anticipating the unknown threats of tomorrow. After careful study of
the current structure -- coupled with the experience gained since
September 11 and new information we have learned about our enemies
while fighting a war -- the President concluded that our nation needs a
more unified homeland security structure. In designing the new
Department, the Administration considered a number of homeland security
organizational proposals that have emerged from outside studies,
commissions, and Members of Congress.
The Department of Homeland Security would make Americans safer
because our nation would have:
- One department whose primary mission is to protect the
American homeland;
- One department to secure our borders,
transportation sector, ports, and critical infrastructure;
- One department to synthesize and analyze homeland security
intelligence from multiple sources;
- One department to
coordinate communications with state and local governments,
private industry, and the American people about threats and
preparedness;
- One department to coordinate our efforts to protect
the American people against bioterrorism and other
weapons of mass destruction;
- One department to help train and
equip for first responders;
- One department to manage federal
emergency response activities; and
- More security officers in the
field working to stop terrorists and fewer resources in
Washington managing duplicative and redundant activities that drain
critical homeland security resources.
The Organization of the Department of Homeland Security
The Department of Homeland Security would have a clear and
efficient organizational structure with four divisions:
- Border and Transportation Security
- Emergency Preparedness
and Response
- Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear
Countermeasures
- Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection
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