Home President Signs Homeland Act, NCS to Move on March 1 By By Jim Garamone, American Forces
Information Service Before Bush signed the bill in a White House ceremony, he announced he will nominate former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge to be the first Secretary of Homeland Security. He also said he will nominate Navy Secretary Gordon England to be Deputy Secretary at the 170,000-worker agency. The new department will analyze threats, guard borders, coordinate national responses and focus the "full resources of the American government on the safety of its people," President Bush said. One major part of the new department will be the transfer of National Communications System (NCS) to Homeland Security from the Defense Department. According to the White House reorganization plan, the NCS will transition into Department of Homeland Security on March 1, 2003 and will fall under the Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Information Assurance and Infrastructure Protection (IAIP). “What we have ahead of us is a wonderfully powerful opportunity to step up – even more than we have over the past 40 years – in accomplishing an even broader role for our Nation,” said Brenton C. Greene, Deputy Manager of the NCS during an agency “all hands” meeting November 26 – the day after the President signed the Homeland Security Bill. Greene said the move is “absolutely the right thing” and is a great chance for the tremendous skills that each of member of the NCS represents. Greene went on to thank the NCS members for their efforts over the past year and a half, dating back to the September 11th tragedy that increased NCS national security and emergency preparedness communications activities. “We’ve had more falling on our shoulders than ever before – standard mission [and] lots of new challenges being put into our laps. Greene said that in every single case, the NCS members were getting the job done -- not only because it had to get done, but getting the job done so well that it is being recognized across the entire government arena as being one of the “can-do” success stories. Final details on how the NCS will fit into the new department are still being worked. In the meantime, the NCS continues its mission of coordinating and developing national security and emergency preparedness (NS/EP) communications within the agency and with its industry partners. The homeland security measure passed Congress with bipartisan support. It had been held up because of concerns about a provision that would allow the president to shift workers to areas where they were needed. Critics said the new rules would erode federal civil-service protections. Administration officials said managers needed more flexibility to protect America. The President thanked union leaders present at the signing ceremony. "We look forward to working with you to make sure that your people are treated fairly in this new department," he said. The bill is a response to the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington. The idea was to place all Federal agencies involved with homeland security under one umbrella. The few exceptions are the military, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency. President Bush said the Government is doing everything it can to enhance security at airports, power plants and border crossings. "We've deployed detection equipment to look for weapons of mass destruction," he said. "We've given law enforcement better tools to detect and disrupt terrorist cells which might be hiding in our own country." He said the Homeland Security Act is the "next logical step" in defending America. The act amalgamates 22 agencies into one department. "To succeed in their mission, leaders of the new department must change the culture of many diverse agencies, directing all of them toward the principal objective of protecting the American people," said the President. "The effort will take time and focus and steady resolve." He said adjustments in the department will be needed as this is the largest reorganization of the U.S. Government since the 1947 act that established the Defense Department. He said the new department would analyze information collected by U.S. intelligence agencies and match that against American vulnerabilities. The new agency will work with other agencies, the private sector, and state and local governments to harden America's defenses against terror, he stated. The agency will focus on safeguarding the U.S. computer network, and defend against the growing threat of chemical, biological or nuclear assaults. The Department of Homeland Security will be one point of contact for state and local officials and place security for all U.S. transportation systems under one roof. Bush noted the Department of Homeland Security will
end duplication and overlapping responsibilities. "Our objective
is to spend less on administrators and offices and more on working agents
in the field; less on overhead and more on protecting our neighborhoods
and borders and waters and skies from terrorists," he said. Steve Barrett of the National Communications System contributed to this article.
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