The pressure is on in Washington to give Homeland Security a promotion. The House has already approved a bill creating a new cabinet-level department, and today all eyes are on the Senate, as it prepares to take the deciding vote.
After 9/11, we got the Office, Tom Ridge, and the color-coded alerts. But the Bush administration’s goal, all along, has been to create a new department charged with protecting and defending the nation against terrorist threats. Over 20 agencies, from Customs to Coast Guard, under one proverbial roof. And yet, for an inspector on the Canada border, or a sheriff in Detroit, what difference does a new bureaucracy in Washington make?
Reinventing government, rethinking security, and what it could mean, on the ground, for your safety.
Guests:
Phil Anderson, Senior Fellow in International Security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies
John Wilda, Customs inspector in Highgate Springs, Vermont
Sheriff Robert Ficano, Wayne County (Detroit).