Cybersecurity post elevated under proposed DHS overhaul
Job would become a cabinet-level position.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on Wednesday announced plans to rearrange and consolidate several agencies at the department -- the first reorganization of the Cabinet agency since the president launched the department two years ago.
Among other things, the proposal calls for dissolving the directorate on information analysis and information protection, known as IAIP, and elevating the post in charge of cybersecurity to the level of assistant secretary. The technology industry has long sought the latter change.
"Modest but essential course corrections regarding organization will yield big dividends," Chertoff said, adding that he would implement several of the changes but that others would require legislation.
IAIP has been plagued with technical and policy problems. Chertoff's plan would dissolve that directorate to focus more attention on intelligence gathering. The former assistant secretary of information analysis would become the chief intelligence officer to disseminate information throughout the department and to other federal agencies.
The plan also calls for separating the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) from the directorate on emergency preparedness and response to once again make FEMA a stand-alone agency reporting directly to Chertoff. He wants a division dedicated solely to preparedness.
The preparedness wing would include the office that distributes funding to "first responders" to emergencies. The grant program currently is within Chertoff's office. Moving it under another layer of bureaucracy could ignite the ire of lawmakers sensitive to its funding activities.
However, House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Harold (Hal) Rogers, R-Ky., said he is "ready and willing" to help Chertoff achieve "these ambitious goals and get the department on track."
The secretary said he also would like to dissolve the directorate on transportation security and border protection, which former Rep. Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark., once ran. The job has been vacant for months. Officials running agencies under that umbrella -- the Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement, and the Customs and Border Protection Bureau -- would report directly to Chertoff.
In response to last week's terrorist bombings in London, Chertoff said the department has worked extensively with the transit industry and first responders to strengthen the overall security of transit systems. He added that "multiple funding streams" have been made available to support rail and transit security projects.
The Senate currently is debating a bill to fund the Homeland Security Department in fiscal 2006, and several senators have introduced amendments to increase funding for mass-transit systems. Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Judd Gregg, R-N.H., has argued that states have received an estimated $8 billion for transit projects and that $150 million from last year's spending measure has yet to reach states.
White House Office of Management and Budget Director Josh Bolten told reporters that the "mass-transit money is an issue that's in discussion with the Congress," and he suggested that some compromise could be reached to address budgetary constraints.