Security Plan Goes To Congress

The White House on Tuesday delivered to Congress its detailed proposal for a new Homeland Security Department in hopes of winning quick passage on Capitol Hill.

Tom Ridge, the White House homeland security chief, brought the measure to Republican and Democratic leaders, who are already beginning work on the bill with a goal of sending it to President Bush by Sept. 11.

"As history has shown, when the Congress of the United States and the president of the United States unite, no challenge is too great, no cause is out of reach, no dream is impossible, whether it's winning a world war, a Cold War or the war on terrorism," said Ridge, flanked by House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and other leaders.

Despite the bipartisan unity, there were a few cautionary notes. Daschle, for one, pointed out that creation of a new homeland security department by itself "doesn't do the job" and that Congress and the administration will have to do much more to safeguard Americans at home.

"This is a means to that end — not the end," said Daschle, D-S.D.

Mr. Bush planned to meet later Tuesday at the White House with congressional leaders as aides fanned out across the Capitol to press for support.

There were a few minor changes in the plan, reports CBS News Correspondent Bob Fuss, including leaving California's Lawrence Livermore lab out of the new department and letting the FBI keep its computer crime unit. But the White House remains adamant about keeping the FBI in the Justice Department and the CIA as a separate independent agency, despite calls from a growing group in Congress to consider putting part or all of them into the new Cabinet-level department.

"The president was not looking to create a mammoth internal security division," homeland security office spokesman Gordon Johndroe said Monday.

"And while the FBI reorganization changes much of its mission to homeland security, it still has numerous responsibilities in its law enforcement capacity and the attorney general remains and should remain the chief law enforcement officer of the United States."

A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the administration will argue that the FBI must be regulated by an agency that is familiar with civil rights law and can serve as a watchdog.

The legislation calls for little change in the FBI and CIA, requiring only that the two agencies submit intelligence information to the new department for analysis.

A small number of FBI agents from the National Infrastructure Protection Center, which protects online commerce and the Internet against cyberattacks, also would be moved to the new department.

But some lawmakers already have said they support moving the FBI to the new department.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., who is expected to chair Senate hearings on the Homeland Security Department, will push for part of the FBI to be put under the department's purview, according to an aide who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Lieberman plans to call FBI Director Robert Mueller to testify before his committee on this matter in coming weeks, the aide said.

House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, believes the matter of how the FBI and Homeland Security Department work together should be the subject of a lengthy inquiry. Last week he said the FBI should be "more formally" involved with homeland security.

"The new department will be one of the FBI and CIA's customers, but how to do that will be an important policy consideration," said Terry Holt, a spokesman for Armey.

Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said Congress should study the issue for the rest of the year.

But where does the FBI believe it belongs?

The agency is not commenting on the issue, but the FBI Agents Association thinks it would be a mistake to gut the FBI of its terrorism duties or move key anti-terrorism personnel to any new department. The agency should remain whole, said Nancy Savage, president of the FBIAA.

"We know that terrorists are criminals at heart," Savage said. "And their activities are wrapped up in criminal activities — identification theft, credit card theft, money laundering and generating false documents. We take a pretty hard stance that anti-terrorism activities are part and parcel of our criminal investigations."

Others are making arguments for why the CIA should be kept separate.

According to a former top CIA official, a Homeland Security Department would best serve counterterrorism efforts by bringing together terrorism-related intelligence gathered by the FBI, state and municipal police departments to create a coherent picture of the domestic threat.

This information could be matched with threats the CIA gathers from foreign sources, said Jack Devine, a former CIA associate deputy director of operations.

The new department also could get the CIA's threat information to local police outlets, but in a form that doesn't give any clue to where it came from. This would serve the CIA's need to protect its sources, said Devine, now president of the Arkin Group, a New York-based crisis management consulting firm.

But the CIA should continue to primarily provide information directly to the White House and other agencies, without forcing it through the new layer of analysis at a Homeland Security Department before it reaches them, Devine said.

"There should not be an effort to slow down the dissemination of the CIA information," he said.