Executive Order Establishes Office of Homeland Security 
and Homeland Security Council

Administration 

The Office of Homeland Security will be directed by the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security. The Office of Administration within the Executive Office of the President shall provide the Office of Homeland Security with such personnel, funding, and administrative support, to the extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations, as directed by the Chief of Staff to carry out the provisions of this order. 

The Homeland Security Council 

The President's Executive Order also established a Homeland Security Council, which will be responsible for advising and assisting the President with respect to all aspects of homeland security. The Council will serve as the mechanism for ensuring coordination of homeland security-related activities of executive departments and agencies and effective development and implementation of homeland security policies.

The Executive Order contains the additional major points:

Mission & Management: 
The President established the Office of Homeland Security that will be headed by the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security -- Governor Tom Ridge. 

The mission of the Office will be to develop and coordinate the implementation of a comprehensive national strategy to secure the United States from terrorist threats or attacks. The Office will coordinate the executive branch's efforts to detect, prepare for, prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from terrorist attacks within the United States. 

National Strategy: 
The Office will work with executive departments and agencies, state and local governments, and private entities to ensure the adequacy of the national strategy for detecting, preparing for, preventing, protecting against, responding to, and recovering from terrorist threats or attacks within the United States and will periodically review and coordinate revisions to that strategy as necessary. 

Detection:
The Office will identify priorities and coordinate efforts for collection and analysis of information within the United States regarding threats of terrorism against the United States and activities of terrorists or terrorist groups within the United States. The Office will also identify, in coordination with the Assistant to the President for priorities for collection of intelligence outside the United States regarding threats of terrorism within the United States. 

Preparedness: 
The Office of Homeland Security will coordinate national efforts to prepare for and mitigate the consequences of terrorist threats or attacks within the United States. 

Prevention:
The Office will coordinate efforts to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States. In performing this function, the Office shall work with federal, state, and local agencies, and private entities. 

Protection: 
The Office will coordinate efforts to protect the United States and its critical infrastructure from the consequences of terrorist attacks. 

Response and Recovery: 
The Office will coordinate efforts to respond to and promote recovery from terrorist threats or attacks within the United States. 
www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/10/20011008-2.html

OHS NEWS EVENTS:

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Gov Ridge to Travel to Mexico: 
During a meeting with Mexico's Foreign Secretary, the Director of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge, discussed the strong ongoing cooperation between U.S. and Mexican officials aimed at ensuring shared borders protect the physical security and economic well being of both countries. Governor Ridge will lead a delegation to Mexico in early March to continue discussions with Mexico on creating a safe and smart border for the 21st century that facilitates the legitimate flow of goods and people between the United States and Mexico. 
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/01/20020111-14.html

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Action Plan for Creating a Secure and Smart Border 
U.S. and Canada: An Efficient, Secure and Smart Border 
Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge led the U.S. delegation that included representatives from the departments of Justice, Transportation, Defense, State, and Treasury; and the offices of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the National Security Council, Customs, and the U.S. Coast Guard.

ACTION PLAN FOR CREATING A SECURE AND SMART BORDER

Secure Flow of People 
-    Resume and evaluate the NEXUS (Easy-pass) pilot project for two-way movement of pre-approved travelers at Sarnia-Port Huron. 
-    Share Advance Passenger Information on flights between Canada and the United States, and increase the number of Canadian and U.S. immigration officers at overseas airports. 
-    Promote additional systems to identify travelers who pose security risks while maintaining the current flow of law-abiding people between the countries.

Secure Flow of Goods 
-    Devise and implement innovative, smart technologies, including common cargo screening, harmonized commercial processes at the border, and compatible security standards to identify dangerous cargo while expediting the flow of low-risk goods.  This will include secure procedures to clear goods on the factory floor, at rail yards, and at marine ports. 

Secure Infrastructure 
-    Relieve congestion at key crossing points by investing reciprocally in border infrastructure and identifying technological solutions that will help to speed movement across the border.  Nearly 70% of traffic and over 80% of the value of goods flowing between the two countries passes through just six border crossings. 

Coordination and Information Sharing in the Enforcement of these Objectives 
-    Strengthen coordination between law enforcement agencies for addressing common threats. 

http://usinfo.state.gov/topical/pol/terror/01121202.htm

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FEMA Director, Governor Ridge Discuss Homeland Security
Washington, D.C., October 5, 2001

Joe M. Allbaugh, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), met with Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge in the state capital of Harrisburg to talk about issues of homeland security. 
Gov. Ridge, who stepped down from the governorship after meeting with Allbaugh, is President Bush's appointee to be Director of the Office of Homeland Security. 
FEMA manages the consequences of terrorist attacks, helps train first responders in terrorism response and assists states in developing emergency plans. Allbaugh traveled to Pennsylvania from New York and Ground Zero and briefed the governor on the latest federal government efforts there.
"Our meeting was very productive and positive," Allbaugh said. "We are like-minded in approach and goals. I have worked closely with the governor in the past and I look forward to working with him in his new role."
http://www.fema.gov/nwz01/nwz01_143.htm 

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The U.S. Conference of Mayors will meet the week of the 21 January, beginning Wednesday in Washington. 

In both their governance and electoral modes, all of these mayors are dealing with a sluggish economy and the demands of homeland security. In the nation's capital, their meetings will focus mainly on the latter. Director Bob Mueller, Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge and a handful of top government security officials will address the mayors. 
The White House has been trying to build substantive ties to the mayors in order to create a better national emergency system. Ridge, for example, is expected to introduce his "tier" system for security warnings. 
From a purely political point of view, the president's political advisers see opportunities to single out (even Democratic) mayors in 2004 Electoral College. After a jazz ball to be held the night of Jan. 23, the mayors will head out the next morning on an Amtrak high-speed Acela train for New York City, where Mayor Michael Bloomberg will welcome them. 
Hundreds of mayors from across the country are expected to attend. The conference wraps up Jan. 26. 
http://www.freep.com/news/nw/terror2001/civil22_20010922.htm

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25 October 2001 
Tom Ridge's Briefing on Homeland Security Issues 
Anthrax sent to Fla., N.Y., D.C. from same strain, officials say 

The anthrax sent to Florida, New York and Washington, D.C. is highly concentrated and from the same strain, Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge told reporters at a White House briefing October 25.  Based on the latest DNA testing, "it is clear that the terrorists responsible for these attacks intended to use this anthrax as a weapon," he said.
"We still don't know who is responsible, but we are marshaling every federal, state and local resource to find them and bring them to justice."  He said officials do not know whether the anthrax is coming from one source or multiple sources.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/10/20011025-4.html