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TOPICS
Lawmaker urges Bush to fill key homeland positions
A key House lawmaker on Monday urged President Bush to immediately appoint the chief privacy and civil liberties officers of the new Homeland Security Department.
Both positions are to be created in the department, but because they do not require Senate confirmation, California Democrat Jane Harman, the ranking minority member on the House Intelligence Terrorism and Homeland Security Subcommittee, encouraged Bush to fill the jobs quickly, given rising concerns about privacy.
"It is vital that the department rebalance privacy and security from Day One, or we are in danger of never getting it right," she said in a statement.
The letter was prompted by increased publicity and concerns surrounding a broad program to search databases for information on potential terrorists, a secret court's recent decision upholding expanded government wiretapping powers, and exemptions from the Freedom of Information Act granted in the law creating the department, Harman said.
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