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American Morning
Fighting Terror
Aired November 26, 2002 - 07:19 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to get Washington again, where for the second straight day now, President Bush is signing landmark legislation into law. Today, he signs the terrorism insurance act, aiming to protect the insurance industry from huge losses inflicted by terror.
Yesterday -- yesterday afternoon in fact -- the president signed homeland security into law, and Jeanne Meserve sat down with Tom Ridge, the man the president has tapped to head up this massive department.
Jeanne -- good morning to you. What did Mr. Ridge say yesterday?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bill, you know, one thing that has bedeviled efforts to improve homeland security over the past year, it's been turf battles. One example: The merging of border agencies that's at the heart of this new department was actually proposed by Tom Ridge early in his tenure, but infighting amongst the agencies involved doomed it.
Now, a few people believe that moving these agencies under one umbrella is going to end the competition, but in this interview, Tom Ridge says that in his new job, he'll be better equipped to deal with it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM RIDGE, DIR, HOMELAND SECURITY: It's a little bit different, though, to go from being in a position where you coordinate activity into a position where you have direct accountability and responsibility for activity.
So, I think in conversations with the men and women who head the agencies that are going to be merged in this one new department, I think there's a clear way ahead for us to understanding we're going to have differences, but to minimize the turf battles -- understand there's only one piece of ground we've got to be worried on, and that's not where your bureaucracy or office sits. That's called the United States of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: And Ridge says he'll knock heads together if that's what it's going to take.
In an effort to demonstrate the importance of homeland security, President Bush sent his reorganization plan to the new department up to Congress yesterday. It wasn't due for 60 days.
Bill, I've been taking a glance at this, and how would you like to be undersecretary for border and transportation security? Here is the top job responsibility -- quote -- "Prevent the entry of terrorists and instruments of terrorism into the United States."
Quite a job description -- Bill.
HEMMER: Well, that's an understatement, too.
Jeanne, back to this Homeland Security Department. There is talk about a transition period before it's fully implemented and phased in. Is there a contingency plan right now to get these agencies communicating with one another before it is completely up and running at 100 percent?
MESERVE: Well, a transition planning office has been up and running since the legislation was proposed. It has brought together representatives from each of the 22 agencies that's going to be merged into the new department. They've been trying to go over some of the nuts and bolts of how these interlocking pieces are indeed going to work together.
They've had people from information technology, for instance, come in, and look at computer systems and figure out how they're going to make them compatible and the e-mail systems compatible.
So, there is planning under way. They're hoping that that will help accelerate this process. They're under a very aggressive timeline. They're hoping to have all of these departments merged in by the first of March.
HEMMER: Wow! That is lightening speed for such size in D.C.
Thank you, Jeanne -- Jeanne Meserve with Tom Ridge from yesterday with us today.
MESERVE: You bet.
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 26, 2002 - 07:19 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to get Washington again, where for the second straight day now, President Bush is signing landmark legislation into law. Today, he signs the terrorism insurance act, aiming to protect the insurance industry from huge losses inflicted by terror.
Yesterday -- yesterday afternoon in fact -- the president signed homeland security into law, and Jeanne Meserve sat down with Tom Ridge, the man the president has tapped to head up this massive department.
Jeanne -- good morning to you. What did Mr. Ridge say yesterday?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bill, you know, one thing that has bedeviled efforts to improve homeland security over the past year, it's been turf battles. One example: The merging of border agencies that's at the heart of this new department was actually proposed by Tom Ridge early in his tenure, but infighting amongst the agencies involved doomed it.
Now, a few people believe that moving these agencies under one umbrella is going to end the competition, but in this interview, Tom Ridge says that in his new job, he'll be better equipped to deal with it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM RIDGE, DIR, HOMELAND SECURITY: It's a little bit different, though, to go from being in a position where you coordinate activity into a position where you have direct accountability and responsibility for activity.
So, I think in conversations with the men and women who head the agencies that are going to be merged in this one new department, I think there's a clear way ahead for us to understanding we're going to have differences, but to minimize the turf battles -- understand there's only one piece of ground we've got to be worried on, and that's not where your bureaucracy or office sits. That's called the United States of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: And Ridge says he'll knock heads together if that's what it's going to take.
In an effort to demonstrate the importance of homeland security, President Bush sent his reorganization plan to the new department up to Congress yesterday. It wasn't due for 60 days.
Bill, I've been taking a glance at this, and how would you like to be undersecretary for border and transportation security? Here is the top job responsibility -- quote -- "Prevent the entry of terrorists and instruments of terrorism into the United States."
Quite a job description -- Bill.
HEMMER: Well, that's an understatement, too.
Jeanne, back to this Homeland Security Department. There is talk about a transition period before it's fully implemented and phased in. Is there a contingency plan right now to get these agencies communicating with one another before it is completely up and running at 100 percent?
MESERVE: Well, a transition planning office has been up and running since the legislation was proposed. It has brought together representatives from each of the 22 agencies that's going to be merged into the new department. They've been trying to go over some of the nuts and bolts of how these interlocking pieces are indeed going to work together.
They've had people from information technology, for instance, come in, and look at computer systems and figure out how they're going to make them compatible and the e-mail systems compatible.
So, there is planning under way. They're hoping that that will help accelerate this process. They're under a very aggressive timeline. They're hoping to have all of these departments merged in by the first of March.
HEMMER: Wow! That is lightening speed for such size in D.C.
Thank you, Jeanne -- Jeanne Meserve with Tom Ridge from yesterday with us today.
MESERVE: You bet.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
