WASHINGTON -- The specter of terrorism that has hung over America since Sept. 11 has created an enormous public demand for security. Homeland security has become a massive governmental program, a political issue, a growth industry, a rationale for all sorts of governmental spending and constitutional shortcuts. It is a big deal and keeps getting bigger.
So far, the governmental program has been a hodgepodge of expensive activities spun by quick-moving bureaucrats and thoughtful congressional supporters. The White House office established to coordinate and control the program has been a toothless tiger, especially in the face of powerful forces in the Department of Defense and the Department of Justice.
President George W. Bush has moved to put some order in this important national priority. He has proposed a Cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security, drawing together 22 government agencies in whole or in part under one secretary with a budget estimated to be $37.5 billion. Agencies such as the Customs Service, Coast Guard, Border Control and Federal Emergency Management Agency will now answer to a single boss who can effectively marshal the resources of the federal government in the fight against terrorism.