Homeland reform faces review

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Many of the changes to his department proposed by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff last week require congressional approval and will face skepticism from lawmakers on at least two fronts.

The House and Senate versions of the department's appropriation bill, for instance, both zero out funding for the planned Office of Screening Coordination and Operations -- a single team of officials charged with developing policies and procedures for the dozen or so programs run by different Homeland Security elements that involve checking against terrorist watch lists the names of airline passengers, foreign visitors, port workers, truckers hauling hazardous materials and other groups.

"There is continuing skepticism about this office," a senior senate staffer said, citing continued concerns about the development of the Secure Flight passenger screening system, which has a poor record on privacy issues that has attracted criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike.

Other lawmakers, meanwhile, say they are troubled that Mr. Chertoff did nothing to strengthen the financial management of his department -- which many see as the sine qua non of improving its performance.

As Mr. Chertoff rolled his planned reforms out in front of an invited audience of Department of Homeland Security employees last week, officials were putting the final touches to draft legislation and other congressional documents designed to implement the changes he wants.

Under the Homeland Security Act, which established the department, Mr. Chertoff enjoys enormous authority to reorganize the department without congressional approval.

But the creation of two new undersecretaries -- for preparedness and policy -- and the elimination of the two they will supplant require legislation. And the reorganization also means money will have to be moved around the budget, which will require amendments to the appropriation bills.

Even those elements of the reforms that require neither legislation nor budgetary change are subject to congressional scrutiny via the so-called 872 letter process, named for the section of the law that requires the Homeland Security secretary to notify Congress of proposed changes to the department's structure.

And lawmakers on both sides of the aisle warn that Mr. Chertoff may face tough sledding on Capitol Hill.

"I think it will encounter some questions," Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the ranking Democrat the House Homeland Security Committee, said of the draft legislation.

Rep. Todd R. Platts, Pennsylvania Republican, chairman of the House Government Reform management, finance and accountability subcommittee wrote to Mr. Chertoff last week, expressing concern that the proposed reforms "missed a valuable opportunity to strengthen the role of [the department's] chief financial officer," which he said was especially important because Homeland Security had not yet been able to get a clean audit since the department was created in March 2003.