For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 15, 2002
President's Cabinet Sends Letter to Senate on Homeland Security
Text of a Letter from the President's Cabinet to Senate Leaders
October 15, 2002
The Honorable Thomas Daschle
Senate Majority Leader
United States Senate
S-221
D.C. 20510
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The Honorable Trent Lott
Senate Republican Leader
United States Senate
S-230
Washington, D.C. 20510
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Dear Senator Daschle and Senator Lott,
Our Nation faces a critical challenge. The enemies of freedom have
waged war against us by stealth and deceit. The threat of another
terrorist attack is with us every day, but in the face of this
adversity, the American people have united behind the President to
fight terrorism and secure our homeland. To manage this effort, the
President has proposed a Department of Homeland Security.
At this challenging time, we believe that the President's existing,
government-wide authority to exclude unions from certain agencies in
the interests of our national security should be preserved for this new
department. In proposals under consideration in the Senate, the
President could not exercise his long-standing authority unless he can
first satisfy two new, burdensome standards that do not apply to any
other department. We do not believe that it is logical, especially in
this time of war, for the President to have this critical national
security authority for each of the 14 existing Cabinet departments, but
to have that authority effectively stripped from him when it comes to
the department created for the very purpose of protecting the
homeland.
Many employees in our respective Departments will be moving to the
new Department. However, if these agencies were left in their existing
departments and not moved to the proposed Department of Homeland
Security, the President would continue to exercise his complete
national security authority. Conversely, if the agencies are moved,
with the same employees and same mission to the Department of Homeland
Security, the President would have less national security authority
over the employees.
As Cabinet Secretaries, we rely daily on both union and non-union
Federal personnel. Together, we manage over 1.6 million employees, and
over a million of them belong to unions. We have seen firsthand the
hard work and long hours these people dedicate to the missions of the
Departments in our charge. Federal employees have been -- and will
continue to be -- the backbone of our Nation's homeland security
efforts.
Today, the President can exclude unions in each of the departments
we lead if he finds that doing so is necessary for reasons of national
security. This long-standing authority reflects a careful balance
struck by President Kennedy in 1962, when he permitted Federal workers
to unionize but reserved the power to remove or limit this right for
reasons of national security. President Carter and the Congress
formalized this authority into law in the 1978 Civil Service Reform
Act. Every President since then has used it. Our departments'
histories provide clear evidence that every President has exercised
this power with discretion and responsibly.
We respectfully ask you to support legislation that would establish
a Department of Homeland Security and maintain for that new department
the President's existing authority to act in the interests of our
national security.
Colin Powell
Secretary, Department of State |
Paul O'Neill
Secretary, Department of the Treasury |
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Donald
Rumsfeld
Secretary, Department of
Defense |
John Ashcroft
Attorney General, Department of Justice
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Gale
Norton
Secretary, Department of the
Interior
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Ann Veneman
Secretary, Department of Agriculture
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Donald
Evans
Secretary, Department of
Commerce |
Elaine L. Chao
Secretary, Department of Labor
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Tommy
Thompson
Secretary, Department of Health
and Human Services
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Mel Martinez
Secretary, Department of Housing and
Urban Development
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Norman
Mineta
Secretary, Department of
Transportation
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Spencer Abraham
Secretary, Department of Energy
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Roderick
Paige
Secretary, Department of
Education |
Anthony Principi
Secretary, Department of Veterans Affairs
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