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Bush Creates Office for U.S. Domestic Antiterrorist Security
WASHINGTON, Sept 21 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Amid much hand-wringing over the intelligence failure that allowed hijacked airliners to crash into prominent U.S. buildings last week, U.S. President George W. Bush ordered the creation of a cabinet-level position to oversee efforts to thwart terrorism at home.
In a speech to the U.S. Congress and the American public Thursday night, Bush announced the creation of the Office of Homeland Security to coordinate efforts by scores of federal and state-level agencies to protect the nation.
Critics, however, have likened the new Office to that of an interior ministry used to quell domestic opposition in non-democratic societies.
"These measures are essential," Bush added. "The only way to defeat terrorism as a threat to our way of life is to stop it, eliminate it and destroy it where it grows."
"These efforts must be coordinated at the highest level. So tonight, I announce the creation of a Cabinet-level position reporting directly to me, the Office of Homeland Security."
Bush immediately nominated Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge - whom he described as "a military veteran, an effective governor, a true patriot and a trusted friend" - to head the new agency.
"He will lead, oversee and coordinate a comprehensive national strategy to safeguard our country against terrorism and respond to any attacks that may come," Bush said.
After Bush's speech, Ridge, 56, announced his resignation as state governor, effective Friday.
"I'm saddened that this job is even necessary," Ridge said. "But it is necessary, and so I would give it everything I have."
"I have no doubt we will prevail," he added, according to ABCNEWS.com.
The popular Ridge, a former congressman and Vietnam war combat veteran, was once thought to be in the running to be Bush's vice president. He first took office as Pennsylvania governor in January 1995 and was overwhelmingly elected for a second term four years later.
Ridge was raised in a working-class family in Erie, Pennsylvania, and received a scholarship to study at Harvard University, from which he graduated in 1967.
Soon afterward, he was drafted into the Army and served as an infantry staff sergeant in Vietnam, earning the Bronze Star for valor.
A cabinet-level position to coordinate a national civil defense is long overdue, experts say.
"The United States has no coherent, functional national strategy for combating terrorism," a commission headed by Virginia Governor James Gilmore concluded in a report to Congress in 2000. The panel also warned that a terrorist attack against the United States was "almost inevitable."
Problems include a lack of cooperation between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other intelligence agencies, weak airport security and a shortage of vaccines against anthrax and smallpox.
The office will seek to coordinate civil defense efforts by more than 40 federal agencies and will also work with state and local officials.
The purpose of the office is to make sure the United States is "better prepared than we are now to prevent and deter and, ultimately, if necessary, cope with a terrorist attack," said a senior administration official who talked to reporters on condition of anonymity.
Since this new position is a cabinet-level post, Bush's plan does not require congressional approval.
The U.S. military "is better prepared to defend South Korea than it is to defend the United States. No question about it," lamented Mac Thornberry, a Republican legislator from Texas and member of the House Armed Services Committee, commenting on the lack of preparations for domestic defense.
But the president was confident and decided in his words, and described the new office as part of a united endeavor in an imminent military campaign.
"Many will be involved in this effort, from FBI agents, to intelligence operatives, to the reservists we have called to active duty. All deserve our thanks, and all have our prayers," he said.
"And tonight a few miles from the damaged Pentagon, I have a message for our military: Be ready. I have called the armed forces to alert, and there is a reason.
"The hour is coming when America will act, and you will make us proud."
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