Ed Bryant, June 14, 2002

Recently, President George W. Bush proposed the most significant transformation of our government in over a half-century. The new Department of Homeland Security will have the protection of our homeland as its primary mission.

Since September 11th all levels of government have cooperated like never before to strengthen aviation and border security, stockpile more medicines to defend against bio-terrorism, improve information sharing among our intelligence agencies and deploy more resources and personnel to protect our critical infrastructure. Like the President, I am extremely pleased with the way federal, state and local governments responded to the events of September 11th.

However, the changing nature of the threats facing America requires a new government structure to protect against invisible enemies that can strike at any time with any number 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 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 new Department will make Americans safer because one department will have the primary mission to protect our homeland. One department will oversee our border and critical infrastructure protection. One department will communicate with state and local governments, private industry, and the American people about threats and preparedness. One department will protect Americans at home against bioterrorism and other weapons of mass destruction. One department will synthesize and analyze homeland security intelligence from multiple sources. And one department will manage federal emergency response efforts.

What the President is proposing is not an expansion of the federal bureaucracy. With the consolidation of the various agencies, redundant functions will be eliminated and overhead costs will be reduced. Management reforms will reduce the cost of bureaucracy, and put more resources on the front lines where they are needed most.

In 1945, only months after the end of World War II, President Truman called on Congress to combine the War and Navy Departments into a single Department of Defense. This reorganization proved to be crucial in defeating the enormous threat we faced in the Cold War, and holds important lessons for our approach to the terrorist threat we face today. As threats against the United States change, we need to make sure our government infrastructure keeps up with our enemies.

However, we must not rush the reorganization of government. Almost 90 different Congressional Committees and Subcommittees have jurisdiction over parts of homeland security, and more than 100 government agencies may be moved into the new Department of Homeland Security. It is important that in creating a new federal department, we are mindful of the need to give it only the most careful, measured deliberation that this process requires. This department may become a permanent part of our federal government- all the more reason to ensure that whatever is created this year is something we can live with for the next fifty years. This is not a political issue, and should not become one. This is an issue of protecting the lives of Americans, and we all agree that is our number one priority.

I look forward to working with President Bush, Governor Tom Ridge and my colleagues in the House and the Senate to craft legislation to create this new department that will protect our homeland from future threats.

Congressman Ed Bryant, a Republican, represents Tennessee's Seventh Congressional District.