WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- As President Bush shifts more and more military and civilian operations to homeland defense, the role of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge and his newly created Homeland Defense assignments remains amorphous and unclear, well-placed sources told United Press International.
In an address to a joint session of Congress nine days after terrorists bombed the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, President Bush said he created a Cabinet-level office to coordinate "homeland defense" and nominated Ridge, a decorated Vietnam veteran to head it. Ridge resigned as governor and is expected to take over his post next week.
Bush created the post in recognition of the belief held in Congress and his administration that the United States was unprepared for the Sept. 11 terrorist attack and that the defense of the continental United States was inadequate, antiquated and split among a plethora of agencies and officials.
But sources in Congress and the law enforcement community who ask not be identified by name or title said the White House still does not appear to a have a clear idea what the job would entail, whether Ridge would head a government agency with operational personnel or simply an advisory office that formed anti-terrorism policy.
One source involved in advising Capitol Hill planners said one plan that was floated by the White House saw Ridge's office similar to the National Security Council, headed by Condoleezza Rice.
"Ridge and about 100 employees, sitting in the EOB (executive office building)," he said.
This source said people in the counter-terrorism community in Washington thought that "would be totally inadequate to the job."
Another source said that the assignment Ridge has is so vast that it demands a full agency behind him and that "it would be wrong to do something like the drug czar."
The so-called drug czar is the White House office of National Drug Control Policy, which sets policy in the war on drugs, but in more than a decade of its existence it has been regarded by many in law enforcement as ineffectual, leaving real decisions on narcotics enforcement to a half dozen agencies.
While Ridge's role does not seem to be decided, Bush has shifted an incredible number of resources to his new notion of a "homeland defense." He authorized the calling up of some 50,000 National Guard and military reserve forces and about 17,000 have actually been given activation orders.
Some 9,600 National Guard members, mostly Air Guard, are already involved in active defense roles. These include members of the Texas National Guard's 147th Fighter Wing, which guarded Bush's plane recently. Bush was a pilot in the 147th.
The Department of Defense announced Tuesday that homeland defense was its top priority and Wednesday appointed Army Secretary Thomas White to coordinate with what the DoD called the "White House Office of Homeland Security."
White will have to sort out a complex set of military commands and laws to have an effective and coordinated homeland defense. One of the thorniest is the authority that Bush granted to regional Air Force commanders to shoot down a civilian airliner if it was hijacked and didn't respond to contacts or commands.
But the military forces are only part of the problem. Bush expanded the armed U.S. sky-marshal program, ordered the federal government to take over security at 420 airports across the country and placed the Coast Guard on extended harbor searches and alerts.
At Bush's request, the governors of the 50 states called up some 4,000 National Guard soldiers to provide temporary security at airports until more federal employees can be trained. Governors and mayors have had state and local police on a whole manner of homeland security duties from guarding the drinking supply of cities to augmenting airport security.
The Department of Justice sought the help of local and state police agencies in locating the hundreds of suspects that the FBI wanted to talk to and state and local agencies in New England, New York, Washington, and a raft of other states were already conducting local investigations.
At the same time, Bush has been increasing the number of government officials with authority or influence over counter-terrorism or homeland defense. When he came into office, he named the Federal Emergency Management Agency, headed by Joe Allbaugh, a key aide to Bush for a decade, as the coordinating agency for the domestic response to terrorism. FEMA has been lauded for its work in the days after Sept. 11, but its role would seem to be counter to Ridge's.
Key senators like California Democrat Dianne Feinstein, and West Virginia's John D. Rockefeller, also a Democrat, have plans for the homeland defense office.
Iowa Republican Senator Charles Grassley, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote to Ridge Wednesday about his concern over "the deficient intelligence and information sharing among the dozens of agencies that play a role in counter-terrorism."
The senator wrote "national security dictates that the federal government create one centralized database for terrorists and criminals, especially those from abroad seeking entry into this country.
"The office of Homeland Security would be the ideal place to coordinate and manage this database."
Grassley wrote that one important reason to coordinate this material is so that is disseminated to state and local police and other specialized police like the Sky Marshals.
The computer systems of the FBI, the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the military agencies are not coordinated and it made identifying terrorist suspects and warning ports of entry impossible.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors has a major counter-terrorism coordination effort under way and is sponsoring a conference on counter-terrorism in Washington later in October.
On Sept. 26 they sent a letter to the 535 members of Congress about a whole range of areas where they need to coordinate with the Homeland Defense: Aviation safety, rail safety, water system protection, training in protective equipment, information sharing, and public health.
"As you consider the following recommendations," the letter said, "it is important to note that of the approximately $10 billion federal terrorism budget identified by the Office of Management and Budget, only 4.9 percent is allocated for state and local first response activities."
