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Homeland Security Department Years to Grow

Aired November 25, 2002 - 14:15   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Officially the biggest government reorganization in more than half a century is now roughly 40 minutes old. In reality, it will take years to get the Homeland Security Department up and running.
And CNN's John King is live from square one, right there at the White House.

Hi -- John.

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Kyra. The president signed that legislation a short time ago. As you noted, the biggest shake-up of the federal government in about 50 years: 170,000 employees now scattered across 22 separate agencies of the federal government, places like the Coast Guard, the new Transportation Security Agency, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, all of them will now be under the command of one man, the new secretary of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge. He, of course, has to be confirmed by the Senate early next year but all indications are that will be an easy process.

Governor Ridge will be Secretary Ridge, taking over this new department that the president says is critical to keep Americans safe, to prevent future terrorist attacks, try to prepare for those attacks, should they occur. The department is now created, but it will take months to get it up and running at all, and probably a year or so, White House officials say, before it is up and running as the president would like to see it fit. And even the president himself said, Kyra, it will take a lot of fine tuning, even then, even more than a year from now, and more fine tuning in the years after that.

PHILLIPS: Well, John, let's talk about the politics just for a moment. Tom Ridge obviously has been appointed. But Joe Allbaugh, the runner up, also Rudy Giuliani's name got floated out there. Let's talk a little bit about the politics behind these individuals. And if Tom Ridge is sort of living up to the job.

KING: Well, much of the speculation was what happens in Washington when we don't have a name formally put forward by the president. It is our understanding from a number of senior sources very close to the president that this has always been Tom Ridge's job if he wanted it. It is now clear he did. He is the president's nominee. Joe Allbaugh's name was mentioned because he now runs FEMA, the Federal Department of Emergency Management. He's also a former top adviser of the president when he was governor of Texas. FEMA will become part of the Department of Homeland Security. Joe Allbaugh's name did come up when people said what if Governor Ridge does not want the job.

Now, what about Rudy Giuliani? That was largely a Washington media creation. The former mayor of New York obviously is out of politics, out of the public sector right now. Many thought he might be the right high profile person to take over this new department. The president never thought that. Mayor Giuliani constantly said he was not interested in returning to public service right now.

And I'll tell you one thing, they love Mayor Giuliani here at the White House, but behind the scenes they say he would not be the right candidate for the job because he likes to be in the headlines. The president likes people who get things done. That's what he thinks of Tom Ridge, somebody who gets things done, a former governor like himself who does not try to steal the headlines. So it will be Governor Ridge, soon to be Secretary Ridge -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And real quickly, John, how soon could we see an impact? I've heard months, I've heard years, but we all know when the government wants to act, they can do things right away. When do you think we'll see some type of result from this new department?

KING: Well, in the issue of border security, bringing the Coast Guard together with the Customs Service, together with the people who process visas, together with Immigration and Naturalization, that you will see starting to become synchronized, if you will, in a matter of months. Moving all these other agencies together will take quite a long time. You have to get the president's team confirmed first, that will happen in January or February, when the Congress comes back. Then there will be a slow process over the next year or so to move it all under one roof. They don't even know exactly where the headquarters will be yet, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, our John King at the White House. Thanks, John.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired November 25, 2002 - 14:15   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Officially the biggest government reorganization in more than half a century is now roughly 40 minutes old. In reality, it will take years to get the Homeland Security Department up and running.
And CNN's John King is live from square one, right there at the White House.

Hi -- John.

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Kyra. The president signed that legislation a short time ago. As you noted, the biggest shake-up of the federal government in about 50 years: 170,000 employees now scattered across 22 separate agencies of the federal government, places like the Coast Guard, the new Transportation Security Agency, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, all of them will now be under the command of one man, the new secretary of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge. He, of course, has to be confirmed by the Senate early next year but all indications are that will be an easy process.

Governor Ridge will be Secretary Ridge, taking over this new department that the president says is critical to keep Americans safe, to prevent future terrorist attacks, try to prepare for those attacks, should they occur. The department is now created, but it will take months to get it up and running at all, and probably a year or so, White House officials say, before it is up and running as the president would like to see it fit. And even the president himself said, Kyra, it will take a lot of fine tuning, even then, even more than a year from now, and more fine tuning in the years after that.

PHILLIPS: Well, John, let's talk about the politics just for a moment. Tom Ridge obviously has been appointed. But Joe Allbaugh, the runner up, also Rudy Giuliani's name got floated out there. Let's talk a little bit about the politics behind these individuals. And if Tom Ridge is sort of living up to the job.

KING: Well, much of the speculation was what happens in Washington when we don't have a name formally put forward by the president. It is our understanding from a number of senior sources very close to the president that this has always been Tom Ridge's job if he wanted it. It is now clear he did. He is the president's nominee. Joe Allbaugh's name was mentioned because he now runs FEMA, the Federal Department of Emergency Management. He's also a former top adviser of the president when he was governor of Texas. FEMA will become part of the Department of Homeland Security. Joe Allbaugh's name did come up when people said what if Governor Ridge does not want the job.

Now, what about Rudy Giuliani? That was largely a Washington media creation. The former mayor of New York obviously is out of politics, out of the public sector right now. Many thought he might be the right high profile person to take over this new department. The president never thought that. Mayor Giuliani constantly said he was not interested in returning to public service right now.

And I'll tell you one thing, they love Mayor Giuliani here at the White House, but behind the scenes they say he would not be the right candidate for the job because he likes to be in the headlines. The president likes people who get things done. That's what he thinks of Tom Ridge, somebody who gets things done, a former governor like himself who does not try to steal the headlines. So it will be Governor Ridge, soon to be Secretary Ridge -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And real quickly, John, how soon could we see an impact? I've heard months, I've heard years, but we all know when the government wants to act, they can do things right away. When do you think we'll see some type of result from this new department?

KING: Well, in the issue of border security, bringing the Coast Guard together with the Customs Service, together with the people who process visas, together with Immigration and Naturalization, that you will see starting to become synchronized, if you will, in a matter of months. Moving all these other agencies together will take quite a long time. You have to get the president's team confirmed first, that will happen in January or February, when the Congress comes back. Then there will be a slow process over the next year or so to move it all under one roof. They don't even know exactly where the headquarters will be yet, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, our John King at the White House. Thanks, John.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com