US President George W Bush's proposal for a cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security was generally welcomed by lawmakers and the media today.
Mr Bush was meeting political leaders at the White House to launch his effort to win approval for the new agency. Last night he said: "We face an urgent need, and we must move quickly, this year, before the end of the congressional session."
"Its a step in the right direction," Democratic Senator Ms Dianne Feinstein said of the idea.
"Its a huge proposal, its a mega-agency and we've got to look at all the ramifications," said the former San Francisco mayor and member of the Senate judiciary and intelligence committees, in an interview last night with CNN television's Larry King.
"After months of trying on the fly to mobilise numerous federal agencies in a unified front against terrorist threats at home," the New York Timessaid today, "President Bush belatedly but wisely told the nation last night that an ambitious reorganisation of the government was needed to get the job done."
The new department will consolidate several federal agencies including the Immigration and Naturalisation Service, the Customs Service, the Coast Guard and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
But Ms Feinstein said the proposed department excludes the major federal intelligence agencies, forcing lawmakers to determine "where the FBI fits in, where the CIA fits in".
And the New York Timeswarned: "Congress must be careful not to create new problems... One danger with the president's proposal is that it might set up new rivalries in a bureaucracy already choking with conflict."
An unidentified Republican strategist with ties to the White House quoted in the Wall Street Journalsuggested the Bush's proposal was an attempt to pre-empt a congressional plan for a similar measure.
Mr Bush decided to move, said the strategist, because it was "better to do it than have it done to you".
AFP