Homeland Security, Office of

On October 8, 2001, in response to the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., President George W. Bush issued an executive order creating the Office of Homeland Security (OHS). The mission of the office was to develop and coordinate the implementation of a comprehensive national strategy to secure the United States from terrorist threats or attacks. The office was charged with coordinating the executive branch's efforts to detect, prepare for, prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from terrorist attacks within the United States.

The Homeland Security Council was also established by the executive order. Members of the council include the directors of the FBI, CIA, and Federal Emergency Management Agency; the attorney general; the secretaries of Defense, Health and Human Services, Transportation, and Treasury; and any other officers of the executive branch designated by the president. The council was to ensure coordination of homeland security-related activities of executive departments and agencies, and the development and implementation of homeland security policies.

More than 40 agencies and offices are responsible for domestic security; the challenge before the OHS was to coordinate and organize these disparate entities—which may have different mandates and goals, are geographically widespread, and may see themselves in competition with each other—into an efficient organization capable of devising successful antiterrorist strategies. Communication is the greatest hurdle: information collected by one agency may not be routinely shared with others, computer systems can be incompatible, and public announcements can contradict one another.

In late 2001, Governor Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania was appointed by Bush to head the Office of Homeland Security. Ridge, a Republican, was familiar with Washington, having served 12 years in the House of Representatives. Ridge grew up in a public housing project in New Jersey, graduated from Harvard, and served in the Vietnam War as a sergeant. He has a reputation as a coalition-builder and a history of successfully battling bureaucracies.

Ridge has been described as having the position of “terrorist czar” in the tradition of presidential appointees given responsibility for high-profile problems [Page 173]and issues. Such “czars” have been named for drugs, AIDS, rubber, and energy; as Congress has not granted them statutory powers, their power, and thus sometimes their success, has been limited. Much depends on the relationship between the president and the appointee.

Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld. Known for his no-nonsense style, the secretary reported on the U.S. War on Terrorism in Afghanistan, Operation Enduring Freedom.

Department of Defense photograph by R.D. Ward.

Ridge is supported by a staff of about 80, which is expected to grow to around 120. The top jobs have been awarded to officials associated with Ridge, Vice President Richard Cheney, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The chief deputy, Steve Abbott, is a retired admiral and former senior aide. The OHS is establishing a national coordination center a few miles from the White House that will be staffed by federal employees of the FBI, CIA, and other agencies. The center's goal is to improve information sharing and coordination among federal agencies, and eventually include state and local agencies.

This OHS agenda includes plans for creating a new border security agency; revamping collection and distribution of intelligence; creating national homeland security performance standards for federal, state, and local agencies, particularly first responders including police and firefighters; creating a national alert system; and encouraging private industry to improve security. Ridge encountered his first serious opposition while working on border security. Ridge succeeded in negotiating a border security pact with Canada, but critics have argued that the agreement includes nothing that was not under discussion before Ridge's appointment.

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