Homeland Security

I was not excited about Michael Chertoff as chief of Homeland Security, but at least it appears that unlike his predecessor, Tom Ridge, he has more than half a brain. In addition he is saying the right words as he announces a Shift in Approach to Terror.

"Threats are important, but they should not be automatic instigators of action," Mr. Chertoff said in his first extensive public comments since taking over the department a month ago. "A terrorist attack on the two-lane bridge down the street from my house would be bad, but would have a relatively low consequence compared to an attack on the Golden Gate Bridge."

That is a rather "reality based" statement to come from a member of the Bush administration. The cynic in me suspects that it may represent a shift in crisis creation now that Bush has his second term like the unsuccessful attempt to create a Social Security "Crisis". But Mr Chertoff seems to be saying the right things.

"This is a marathon, not a sprint," he said.

The federal government needs to have a more restrained and coordinated public message than it had in the first Bush term when it comes to discussing potential threats, the secretary said. That might mean he and other department officials will decline to comment at times about rumored threats until definitive information is available, he said. He did not mention the department's much-criticized color-coded alert system but has said previously he was assessing it.

"I don't want to get up in public and say the sky is falling if it's not falling," he said. "I'm going to try to be very realistic and sensible and serious about the kinds of tradeoffs that we have to consider when we're making decisions about protecting ourselves."

At least he seems to realize how absurdly lame the Ridge approach was. In addition he at least says he's going to try to remove the politics, never an easy task on the Beltway.

The department's modified agenda - including its intention to direct more of its annual grants toward states and cities that are considered the most likely terrorist targets - is already winning praise from some former critics of the department.

"A calculus balancing threat, vulnerability and consequence is exactly the right way to operate programs and deploy limited homeland security resources," said Clark Kent Ervin, the department's former inspector general, who now serves as director of the Homeland Security Initiative at the Aspen Institute in Washington.

But there are signs that Mr. Chertoff will face resistance, particularly in Congress, where several senators have criticized him for a plan to reduce guaranteed minimum antiterrorism grants for smaller, more rural states, like Wyoming, Maine and Arkansas.

Perhaps most encouraging is this:

The government, Mr. Chertoff also said, must better respect civil liberties, too, even as it tries to catch would-be terrorists. He was referring to accusations of mistreatment of Muslim Americans by law enforcement officials in recent years.

"We must calibrate an approach to security in a way that incorporates prevention and protection into our lives so as to respect our liberty and our privacy and also fosters our prosperity," he said.

Once again the right words, it will remain to be seen how he implements these grand ideas. He may at least be an improvement over that moronic political hack Tom Ridge. Time will tell.
Thanks to Bill in DC for the tip