NYT: Domestic Security Gets a Mixed Appraisal

Domestic Security Gets a Mixed Appraisal
By ERIC LICHTBLAU

Published: March 25, 2004


WASHINGTON, March 24 — One year after a vast reorganization of domestic security, the government has made important strides in defending the nation against another terrorist attack but still faces critical gaps that could take years to close, according to an internal review released on Wednesday.

The Department of Homeland Security, which in March 2003 brought together 22 agencies and some 180,000 employees in one of the largest government reorganizations in history, "has made significant progress in addressing all of its management challenges," said the report, by the department's inspector general.

Even so, some needed improvements in border protection, technology upgrades, training, staffing and management "will take years to develop and implement, and much remains to be done."

The report is likely to fuel further debate over whether the country has done enough to safeguard its borders after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Even as the Sept. 11 commission wound up two days of widely publicized public hearings, the inspector general's assessment reinforced a perception among some critics that the country remained vulnerable to another major strike....

(The article quotes Representative Jim Turner of Texas, a Democrat on the House Select Committee on Homeland Security: "This administration is not doing all it can to keep America as safe as it needs to be....I agree with the department's independent inspector that much has been done to make this country safer, but this is not good enough. We are not as safe as we need to be, and now is not the time to lose our resolve.")


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/25/politics/25HOME.html