RECENT EVENTS:

Proposed budget for the OHS represents an enormous increase.

President Bush’s proposed budget for the OHS has been the most important event concerning the office since the end of January.  The first-ever homeland security budget, a $37.7 billion proposal, will nearly double what has been spent since the office was created in the weeks after September 11th.  Signaling that this is just a beginning to future funding increases, OHS Director, Governor Tom Ridge said that the proposal allowed the office to complete, “important, substantive first steps.” 

Where will the money go? 

The OHS budget represents a collection of programs from agencies across the government, including FEMA and DOD, Justice and Transportation.  Drawing attention to the initiative, the administration put a Minuteman logo on every page in the budget in which an agency has a mission related to homeland security.  Major focuses include:

Bio-terrorism:

• To help safeguard the public from biological attacks the administration proposed spending $5.9 billion, up from $1.4 billion currently.  Four key areas include:
• Helping state and local health systems respond to attacks.  Hospitals, for instance, would get $591 million to improve communications systems, install decontamination facilities and set up regional plans. 
• Improve research and development in the hunt for vaccines, diagnostic tests and rapid identification of deadly pathogens.
• Adding resources for the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile, a $400 million collection of medicines that could help millions of victims in the event of another major outbreak of bio-terrorism. 
• Strengthening interagency communications.  The White House is proposing to set up a national information network at a cost of $202 million to link emergency medical responders with public health officials for sharing information about diagnoses and treatment. 

First-Responders:

As previously announced, the budget included $3.5 billion for grants next year to provide equipment and train firefighters, police and emergency medical personnel to respond to potential attacks.  This increase is up from a mere $291 million in the current fiscal year. 

• Increase spending in this area to $4.8 billion in the next year from $1.5 billion now.  The September 11th attacks persuaded President Bush that he needed to create a new agency, a Transportation Security Administration.  He has designated $4.8 billion to set up the agency, hire 30,000 new federal airport security workers and provide equipment to detect explosive materials in baggage and luggage.

Emphasis on homeland security: 

• The Department of Justice will use the OHS money to increase its proposed counter-terrorism budget by $2 billion.  This would be in addition to whatever funding is allocated to the counter-terrorism program from Justice’s own budget of $26 billion.
• Another $350 million would be spent to improve tracking of non-citizens entering and exiting the United States and to double the number of Border Patrol agents between the United States and Canada.

Criticism to the OHS budget proposal:

Late last year, many lawmakers were clamoring to add funding for homeland security, including proposals for defending roads, bridges and power plants and bolstering the public health system.  Since the budget proposal, some critics have said that a comprehensive assessment of where the nation is most vulnerable and what should be done about it is overdue. 

Of the new budget proposals, Rep. Jane Harman (D-Vermont) said: “There are some good ideas.  But what is missing is organization.  Have they picked the right four or five subjects?  Are they the ones where we are at highest risk.” 

Redistributing funding will adversely affect other programs.  The Los Angeles Times reports that law enforcement programs that have been popular in California and elsewhere could suffer.  One of the big law-enforcement losers in the proposal is the community-oriented policing services programs, or COPS, that has provided local police departments with money to hire more officers. 

The Bush plan would slash funding for the hiring of new officers by $370 million.  The Justice Department believes that the program has met its goal of providing funds for 100,000 new officers and that the money could be better spent elsewhere, a senior department official said.  Congressional critics say that the goal has not in fact been met, and they promised a fight. 

Justice Department officials insist that they are not abandoning local governments and will be shifting their resources elsewhere, but they acknowledged that fighting terrorism must now be the “No. 1 priority” at all levels of government. 

Sources:

“Something for Every Fire House, Police Station and Rescue Squad.”  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.  February 5, 2002.  Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe:  Office of Homeland Security.  Online.  17 February 2002, 05:13 pm EST. 

“BUSH BUDGET PLAN; Domestic Defense a Priority; Homeland: White House proposed spending $37.7 billion, nearly double the current outlay, for ‘first steps’.”  Los Angeles Times.  February 5, 2002.  Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe:  Office of Homeland Security.  Online.  17 February 2002, 05:12 pm EST. 
 

OHS NEWS EVENTS:

Gov. Ridge travels to Nevada
The director of homeland security visited the proposed site for a military training ground in Nevada on February 20, 2002.  The site, 80 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is among many across the country Gov. Ridge is visiting, or said he hopes to explore, as potential sites for counter-terrorism training. 

The host for the military demonstration today was Senator Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat who is proposing to turn the site into a National Center for Combating Terrorism, or, as he puts it, “a Top Gun school for counter-terrorism.”

“It has a network of tunnels going miles, deep shafts, it already has a chemical spill facility,” Mr. Reid said.  “There are areas for putting together and taking apart nuclear weapons.  You can blow things up here like you can’t in other places.”

Whatever the area’s assets, the decision to create a training program could mean an infusion of money, perhaps $50 million to $60 million a year, Senator Reid estimated.  Other sites are seeking counter-terrorism training money, too, including one in Cincinnati, where Mr. Ridge spent the morning seeing a demonstration by an urban assault team. 

Source: “Combating Terrorism; Nevada Stages Raid in Bid to Be Military Training Site.”  The New York Times.  Matt Richtel.  http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/21/national/21CAMP.html
 

UPCOMING CONFERENCE:

National Conference on Homeland Security (24 April 2002; Washington, DC) 
This conference will consist of a series of lectures on subjects like biological and chemical defense, weapons and casualties, postal safety, aviation safety, and some of the latest technology in homeland security. Speakers will include Dr. Michael Ascher from the Office of Public Health Preparedness and George Hanley from the Centers for Disease Control. 
http://www.nchomelandsecurity.org/ConferenceInfo.asp