Substitute For Bush's Homeland Security Plan example essay topic

Homeland Security Department Following the events on September 11th, we as a country came to the realization that despite being the worlds most powerful country, we are still just as vulnerable to foreign attacks as any other nation. President Bush took it upon himself to make sure our nation would not be the target for another attack. President Bush announced in an address to a joint session of Congress on September 20, 2001 that Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge will serve as the president's Assistant for the Office of Homeland Security. On October 8, 2001, President Bush set up a Homeland Security Office that would see former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge appointed as the new Assistant to the President for Homeland Security. Ridge was only appointed the Assistant to the President because Bush wanted the Homeland Security Office within the White House so that he could have full control over it. Tom Ridge was elected to the position because for a various number of reasons.

He has a background in the military, as he served in Vietnam in the late sixty's and early seventy's. His father was also in the Navy. Ridge served 12 years in Congress and two terms as Pennsylvania's governor. One item he was noted for while governor was his crackdown on crime and weapons. He passed many bills including one requiring trigger locks on guns and another making it a felony for convicted felons to possess guns. In addition to this, the Ridge and Bush families are personal friends who have known each other for years, so there is a strong level of trust between the two men.

President Bush signed the Homeland Security bill into law on November 25, 2001. The Senate and the House approved the bill in the same week, both by a very convincing vote. In the bill, the President stated that he wanted Congress to give the Homeland Security Department $37.45 billion for the 2003 fiscal year. Eliminating certain flaws in the make up of the current homeland security can finance the money according to Bush. Upon hearing the amount of money Bush wanted for the new department, The Senate wanted Ridge to testify in front of The Senate Appropriations Committee, which wanted to question him on how 2001's homeland security appropriations have been spent and how the requested funds would be spent. Ridge's position is an assistant advisor to the President, so he is not required to testify on Capital Hill.

If Ridge's position were one of a cabinet member, he would be required to testify. Bush and Ridge made the decision that Ridge would not testify in front of The Senate Appropriations Committee. The President wants total control over the public's perception of which party is dominating the security issue, and by not letting Ridge testify he is doing just that. Ridge has been around politics long enough to know there is a way out of everything.

In an attempt to stay away from Capital Hill, Ridge has been "more than happy to answer the questions of members of Congress, but not through formal testimony", according to a spokes person, Gordon Johndroe. The move by Bush in refusing to send Ridge to testify about the near $38 billion budget is considered a Nixon ian type move by some. John Dean of CNN says, "President Bush has structured the White House homeland security operation as if modeled on Nixon's old governing plans. All the decision and policymaking is being undertaken at the level of the White House staff -- where it is immune from Congressional oversight. As a result, the government is being run in secrecy more typical of a big corporation than an open, democratic society". Republicans and democrats have their say over this issue.

Oklahoma republican Don Nickles stated that, "The president is entitled to have his advisers. We don't ask Condi Rice up to testify before Congress. We don't ask his chief of staff. I think the president is right in saying, 'Wait a minute. I need Tom Ridge to help run this war on terrorism, and he shouldn't have to go around to each individual committee.

' " On the other hand, South Dakota democrat Tom Daschle makes an interesting point in saying, "He is the administrator of a very important program right now, he's acting with all the rights and privileges of a Cabinet officer. He ought to come before the Congress and work in concert with us to do this job right". Congress warned Bush, "No facts, no money!" Talk of making the Homeland Security Office a cabinet position began back in October of 2001, with democrat Joe Lieberman leading the charge. On April 11, Lieberman made another proposal, which would create a National Homeland Security Agency. The agency would plan and coordinate federal activities related to border patrol, emergency management, critical infrastructure protection and computer-related defense activities.

Lieberman's proposal quickly gained support, but Bush had a plan. Nearly two months after Lieberman's initial Homeland Security Agency proposal in April, President Bush called on Congress to set up a Cabinet-level homeland defense agency. On June 6, 2002, President Bush made a long overdue proposal to congress for a Department of Homeland Security. In designing the new Department, the administration considered a number of homeland security proposals that have came from outside studies, commissions, and Members of Congress.

The main goal of Bush's proposal is to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, reduce America's vulnerability to terrorism, minimize the damage and recover from attacks that do occur. The 170,000-employee department (who will all be stripped of civil service protections and union bargaining rights) would be broken down into four core divisions. The first is Border and Transportation Security. The Coast Guard, Customs Service, Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, and the Transportation Security Administration would all be a part of this division. The second division would be Emergency Preparedness and Response. This would focus on preventing future attacks, and minimizing the damage and speeding up the recovery time from attacks that may occur.

The third division is Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Countermeasures. This division deals with preventing terrorist threats of mass destruction via nuclear devices. The final division is Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection. This division will work closely with the CIA and FBI and neutralizing domestic threats. During the summer of 2002, Bush urged congress to pass his proposal so that progress could be made on the development of the department. On July 25, the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee approved a substitute for Bush's Homeland Security Plan.

This drew a veto threat from Bush, and angered some republicans. Freed Thompson of Tennessee said, "As it stands today, I think we'd be better off without than with it". Amendments were made, but by the end of the summer no decision had been made. Finally on November 20, 2002, The Senate approved a bill that would create a Department of Homeland Security by a vote of 90-9. President Bush signed the bill and nominated Tom Ridge to head the new department.

On January 22, 2003, The Senate unanimously voted confirming Tom Ridge as the first secretary of Homeland Security. This closed one door and opened another. Tom Ridge was officially the head of the Homeland Security Department cabinet, bringing to a close the previous 15 months. The department could formally get underway with everything they had planned now that Ridge was at the helm. It may take years until this department is what Bush and his staff had envisioned it. Despite all the work and effort that went into creating the new cabinet department, there are doubters as to whether the Homeland Security Department will be effective.

Karen Tumulty of Time, brings up five interesting questions. What will the Homeland Security Department do? The second question is could such a department have prevented 9/11? How will it be funded? When will it be up and running? The last question brought up by Tumulty is, is Tom Ridge up to the job?

The only real way we will be able to answer these questions is with another disaster like 9/11. If we don't experience a 9/11-type ordeal, people assume things are going well but they really don't know any details. If something tragic like that happens, all fingers will be pointed at Bush and Ridge.