Editorial: Working together is essential

Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2001 | 8:45 a.m.

As soon as the U.S.-British airstrikes started Sunday against military targets and terrorist camps in Afghanistan, government officials reminded Americans that retaliatory attacks by terrorist groups were a possibility. And on Monday the Justice Department told thousands of law enforcement agencies, businesses and utilities to be on high alert.

Into this uncertain time steps Tom Ridge, who on Monday began his first day as head of the new Office of Homeland Security. His mission is to create a national strategy to protect the United States from terrorist attacks. It will help Ridge, the former governor of Pennsylvania, that he is a friend of President Bush, to whom he will report directly. In Washington proximity is power, and Ridge's office is in the West Wing not far from the Oval Office. But the task at hand for Ridge won't be easy. He will oversee terrorism responsibilities for about 40 federal agencies. It's tough enough getting one federal agency to chart a different course, but to get 40 separate agencies to work together is something that just doesn't happen in Washington, D.C. Ridge will have to navigate a Washington bureaucracy that can thwart and sidetrack the best ideas.

Ridge won't be a member of the Cabinet and his staffing is relatively small by Washington standards -- about 100 employees, with many of them on loan from other federal agencies. It's understandable that the president wanted someone in the job fast, so he created the position by executive order instead of having Congress pass legislation to create the new post. But in the long term -- and this war on terrorism will be fought for years and possibly decades -- Congress and the president should seriously consider giving Cabinet status to the head of the Office of Homeland Security and providing the statutory authority he needs to have full power over the planning and operation of anti-terrorism efforts.

Before Sept. 11, anti-terrorism efforts weren't given the priority they deserved. But all that has changed as the public is demanding stepped-up security measures. The key now is getting the myriad agencies to work together. "The only turf we should be worried about is the turf we stand on," Ridge said Monday as he was sworn in. Sound advice. Let's hope the federal agencies are listening.