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Topic: Bush seeks broad new powers to protect U.S.
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Kindgo
Advanced Member
Member # 2
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posted
Linda, I too voted for GW, I am sad that he has not done somethings he promised to do.
I do believe there are things going on behind the scenes we don't know about....all we can do is pray for God's will to be done in all matters... ![[angel]](graemlins/angel3.gif)
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God bless,
Kindgo
Inside the will of God there is no failure. Outside the will of God there is no success.
Posts: 4320 | From: Sunny Florida | Registered: Jun 2002
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helpforhomeschoolers
Advanced Member
Member # 15
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posted
You know, I voted for Bush, I prayed like most of Christian America for his success during the elections. I pray for him now.
But... I have an strange and uncertain feeling about him. A kind of erry feeling. Not to say I do not support him as our President. I do and I will, and I beleive there was no other Choice, because the previous administration Had to end, but still this strange feeling that I can't put my finger on don't understand.
Like there is something I do not know, do not see, that all is not as it seems.
I share this because I wanted to know if any else of you have experienced this?
Posts: 4684 | From: Southern Black Hills of South Dakota | Registered: Jun 2002
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Kindgo
Advanced Member
Member # 2
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posted
http://orlandosentinel.com/news/nat...1702jul17.story
More setting up for the AC to rule- ![[uhoh]](graemlins/uhoh2.gif)
Bush seeks broad new powers to protect U.S.
By Tamara Lytle | Sentinel Bureau Chief
Posted July 17, 2002
Jul 16, 2002
WASHINGTON -- President Bush on Tuesday asked for broad new powers and more tools to protect the country against terrorism, calling his strategy for defending the United States "our most urgent national priority."
His homeland-defense plan, which includes the controversial idea of standardizing drivers licenses, is the first such proposal in U.S. history and yet another signal that the attacks of Sept. 11 require permanent changes.
The president's strategy sparked renewed concerns that the concentration of power to fight terrorism could erode civil liberties and restrict public access to important information.
Bush already had proposed setting up a federal Department of Homeland Security. But his National Strategy for Homeland Security goes further in laying out his priorities and urging state and local governments and the private sector to take specific actions to protect American soil.
"All of us agree that protecting Americans from attack is our most urgent national priority, and that we must act on the priority," Bush said in a Rose Garden announcement, where he was flanked by members of Congress.
Congress must approve some portions of his plan, including the setup of the new department.
Bush asked for unprecedented authority to reorganize government and transfer money among programs -- without the approval of Congress -- to deal with the changing face of terrorism.
Bush also proposed an end to laws that bar military personnel from being involved in civilian law enforcement so they can help respond to attacks. And he asked for greater flexibility in extraditing people from the United States.
Local cooperation sought
White House officials said other portions of the bill would require agreement from state and local governments.
The strategy proposes tying federal aid to new priorities such as training emergency personnel and upgrading communications equipment.
A new set of standards for drivers licenses would need agreement by the states. A new national standard, for instance, might govern who gets a license and what information is listed on it.
The measure has drawn fire from civil libertarians, who say it could lead to a national identification card that threatens privacy.
Katie Corrigan of the American Civil Liberties Union called it an internal passport.
"It's astonishing that the Bush administration would back a proposal that has been slammed from all sides of the political spectrum as ineffective, expensive, easily compromised and dangerous to core American liberties," Corrigan said.
The strategy is aimed at a possible new wave of terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction and attacks on computer systems.
'A nation at risk'
"We are today a nation at risk to a new and changing threat," Bush stated in the report. "The U.S. government has no more important mission than protecting the homeland from future terrorist attacks. Yet the country has never had a comprehensive and shared vision of how best to achieve this goal."
The document contains no new funding requests beyond the $37.5 billion Bush request for homeland security next year.
Michele Flournoy, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the plan promises more than it can afford.
"This is a vision of everything we could possibly do -- not presidential guidance for what we should do if we can't spend unlimited amounts," Flournoy said.
The strategy sets out several areas that would receive priority funding:
Better coordination of border and transportation security. The new Department of Homeland Security would take charge of a disjointed system now overseen by many federal agencies, including Customs, the Transportation Security Administration, the Coast Guard and the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Some congressional committees are resisting Bush's efforts to put all the agencies under one secretary.
"Smart borders" that would require biometric identification, such as visas that contain fingerprints.
Better security for shipping containers brought to U.S. ports. Bush promised to install U.S. inspectors in foreign ports so that suspicious cargo can be checked out before it enters the United States. Some countries have balked at the idea of allowing in U.S. inspectors.
New airline procedures such as bomb-detection machines.
More money for the Coast Guard, which recently began replacing its aging fleet.
Tighter controls on immigration.
Sussing out scenarios
The president's plan also would employ new "red teams" that would think like terrorists and come up with new scenarios of attack.
Other parts of Bush's plan include more research on vaccines and antidotes to biological and chemical attacks, development of better sensors to detect nuclear weapons, sharper analysis from the FBI and a focal point for intelligence reports in the new department.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., one of the leading advocates of a Homeland Security department, said Bush did not go far enough in giving that agency access to all intelligence information.
"As we look back pre-September 11th, one aspect of the American government's behavior that jumps out at us as a failure was the inability to connect the proverbial dots from the intelligence and law-enforcement communities," Lieberman said. "As I read the administration's strategy and intentions here, they have not corrected that error."
Bush's strategy proposes putting the Homeland Security department in charge of identifying key potential targets, such as electrical grids and nuclear plants, that need to be protected.
About 85 percent of that infrastructure is owned by the private sector, but the plan envisions federal incentives as well as regulations to induce them to make their facilities more secure.
For instance, the federal government would require companies to abide by new standards for screening and background checks of employees at those key plants and facilities.
Loss of freedoms
The plan would end some sunshine laws that give the public access to information about those critical facilities.
That idea has drawn criticism from freedom-of-information advocates, who say it would allow companies to withhold information about the types of dangerous chemicals that could affect neighborhoods after accidental spills or terrorist attacks.
The proposal would even set up a new system to track perfectly legal purchases of items such as antibiotics, protective gear, aerosol generators and fermenting equipment if there is suspicion they are being bought for terrorism.
State and local officials have complained that Bush's plan for a new department does not address the key role they play in preventing and responding to attacks.
The new strategy proposes better access to information about terrorists for local law enforcement, as well as financial incentives to encourage nationally uniform training for emergency responders and the purchase of communications systems that can connect to other departments.
On Sept. 11, many police and fire workers in New York and at the Pentagon had trouble coordinating because their radio systems were different.
The strategy also gives the nation its first definition of just what homeland security is: "a concerted national effort to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, reduce America's vulnerability to terrorism, and minimize the damage and recover from attacks that do occur."
Stephen Gale, terrorism expert at the University of Pennsylvania, said Bush's plans are too bureaucratic to keep up with agile terrorists.
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God bless,
Kindgo
Inside the will of God there is no failure. Outside the will of God there is no success.
Posts: 4320 | From: Sunny Florida | Registered: Jun 2002
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