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The Homeland Security Department's new reorganization plan generally received positive support in Congress Thursday, but House lawmakers in particular expressed concern that the plan fails to address several security needs and gaps.

DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff testified before the House and Senate homeland security committees Thursday, one day after he announced a major departmental reorganization intended to refocus and improve homeland security operations and management.

Lawmakers said they generally support the reorganization and expressed confidence in the direction Chertoff is taking the department. Many House legislators, however, had deferred criticism of DHS in the five months since Chertoff took over, saying they were awaiting results of the review. But any honeymoon Chertoff enjoyed with the House appeared to end on Thursday.

"There is a great deal of anxiety on the Hill and in the country about how well the Department of Homeland Security is doing," Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., told Chertoff. "And I think the biggest challenge for you is to try and restore confidence ... You have got to show the country that there is a leader now in charge of homeland security and someone who is not going to let these things drift off."

He added: "We expect you now to lead this department, and it's time for action, it's time to get this thing moving in the right direction. We are confident that you can do it, but we need to see action."

Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate identified several common areas of concern, such as border security, the absence of a comprehensive transportation security plan and the need for more mass transit security resources.

Chertoff emphasized throughout the day that the department will use a risk-based model that balances and prioritizes the use of resources based on threats, vulnerabilities and what the consequences of an attack would be.

"I wouldn't want to leave the public with the impression that nothing has been done. Quite the contrary is true," he said. "We are in fact certainly safer than we were certainly before 9/11. In fact, we're safer than we were last year."

The reorganization plan calls for the creation of new undersecretaries, directorates and offices, while some existing components will be merged or abolished altogether. For example, a policy office headed by an undersecretary will be created to coordinate operations across the department.

Under the plan, the Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection Directorate is being eliminated. The information analysis operation will be merged into an office of intelligence and analysis, run by a chief intelligence officer, while infrastructure protection will be merged into a new Preparedness Directorate, ran by an undersecretary.

The old Border and Transportation Security Directorate will be dismantled. BTS components, such as the Transportation Security Administration, Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, will now report directly to Chertoff.

Some of the changes will require congressional approval, such as the confirmation of new undersecretaries and the abolition of the Border and Transportation Security Directorate. No lawmakers said Thursday that they planned to block any of the proposed changes.

Chertoff said more details and policy proposals will be coming in the next weeks and months, especially with regard to changes in the areas of border security, interior enforcement and immigration reform.

House and Senate lawmakers generally said they support the creation of a policy shop, chief intelligence officer, chief medical officer and assistant secretary for cyber- and tele-communications.

COMMENTS

• I just saw the new thriller "Red Eye" at the movies. It deals with a plot to assassinate the deputy secretary of Homeland Security and his family. That's how you can tell it's fiction. In real life, who would go to such trouble to take out a bureaucrat who is no real threat to anyone? The same applies to the rest of this screwed up agency! GovExec.com reader Posted August 29, 2005 4:53 PM
• In defense of the former INS Special Agent, the ATF did dump numerous cases on the old INS (It happened to me several times). The ATF cases were 1,326 cases because the 922 had been turned down. In defense of the former Customs Special Agent, their investigations are VERY complicated and complex, I'm in one of their groups, this stuff is off-the-charts difficult. Perhaps it was only a rumor but before 9/11 some HQ types told me the INS Special Agents were going to finally get their GS-13 pay funded. On another note, if you know what you're looking for, the direction of the new immigration reform from the "beltway buffoons" are enough to really bring your morale down. We are on the verge of another colossal mistake like the Amnesty fraud of the late eighties. If that happens, I'm telling the FBI, ATF, and anyone else, don't even bother to call for the usual favors, we're busy forever. If you don't like ICE now, just wait until the new "guestworker" legislation hits. GovExec.com reader Posted August 3, 2005 6:30 PM
• Well, our fearless leader, Assistant Secretary for ICE Michael Garcia, has finally left the building. The Senate confirmed him to be U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York on Friday, July 29, 2005. Goodbye, Mike, and don't let the door hit you on the way out! GovExec.com reader Posted August 3, 2005 11:19 AM