WASHINGTON, July 15 (UPI) -- Director of Homeland Security Tom Ridge Monday defended the president's proposal for a new security agency in front of a panel assembling its own plan, arguing that Bush's design would be the best way to prevent new terror attacks.
"Our nation remains at great risk of terrorist attacks now and for the near future," Ridge told the House Select Committee on Homeland Security. "The more we know about our vulnerabilities, the better we can protect them."
Testifying in front of a House select committee, Ridge outlined the vast new agency, which he said would oversee nearly 170,000 workers and represent the biggest reorganization of government in half a century. Bringing a diverse set of government departments -- from the Coast Guard to the Secret Service -- under unified leadership would best protect the country against terrorism, he argued.
Lawmakers from both parties have said Bush's plan would combine the wrong parts of government in some cases and put too much responsibility under one roof. Last week, several House committees voted to modify the president's proposal. None of the committees has a final say over how the new department is created.
The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee rejected a request to make the Coast Guard and the Federal Emergency Management Agency part of the new department. The Government Reform Committee restored the ability of Homeland Security Department employees to join unions regardless of national security concerns.
The Appropriations Committee struck down a proposal to give the new agency's director full authority over 5 percent of its projected $38 billion budget.
Ridge's comments come as the House Homeland Security Committee is scrambling to assemble and approve a House version of a Homeland Security Department by the end of the week. The committee is charged with reconciling House demands with the president's plan.
The plan presented by Ridge did not include the House suggestions.
"We have demonstrated some flexibility, but there are certain basic components of the proposal that are necessary to maximize the benefit of the department to the government, such as including the Coast Guard and FEMA," Ridge said.
Ridge's testimony previewed the main strategy document for the Homeland Security Department, which will be released by President Bush tomorrow. The proposal, he said, has three goals: preventing terrorism within the United States, reducing America's vulnerability to terrorism, and minimizing the damage from attacks that do occur.
Moving the Coast Guard intact into the new department "is crucial to the president's plan to improve our border and transportation security," Ridge said. While many of the Coast Guard's tasks do not relate directly to Homeland Security -- such as search and rescue and environmental law enforcement -- Ridge said he was convinced that the move would not weaken its overall capacity.
Sunday, the Brookings Institution released a study recommending that FEMA not be consolidated into the new department. Ridge, however, said FEMA was a critical backbone for the new department's emergency response system.
Lawmakers also worried about a plan to exempt the new department from some public information disclosure requirements that bind other agencies. Ridge said this "limited exemption" was necessary to guarantee that private companies will reveal aspects of their operations to the federal government that are vital to the national security.
Worker protection was also a main source of concern at the hearing, with Ridge maintaining that workers would be permitted to organize under normal federal guidelines "subject to national security authority." He said he rejected the House proposal that would remove the ability for the agency to change employee laws if national security required.
Flexibility in the face of a diverse terrorist challenge required that the agency give its future director the ability to reprogram up to 5 percent of its budget without seeking Congressional approval, Ridge said. Democratic lawmakers at the hearing Monday, however, argued that the administration would need to show more flexibility in general if it expected the new plan to pass.
"Governor Ridge has done a very good job of explaining the plan as it exists. But I expect this is only the opening gambit, if the administration wants this to move forward," said Congressman Robert Menendez, D-N.J.
House leaders hope to pass the bill by the end of next week.
In the Senate, discussion of the new department has not yet begun. Senate Governmental Affairs Chairman Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., is charged with drafting the legislation, and Majority Leader Thomas Daschle, D-S.D., has said he would like to move the legislation before the August recess begins.
