President Bush released a 90-page strategy on homeland security Tuesday. The document, meant to be the guiding philosophy behind all future domestic counterterrorism measures, envisions new federal laws and initiatives to:
— Create "red teams" that would think like terrorists and identify potential methods and targets.
— Exempt from public disclosure requirements certain documents on the vulnerabilities of such U.S. infrastructure mainstays as utilities and chemical plants.
— Expand extradition agreements with other nations.
— Possibly give the federal government authority to deploy the National Guard in emergencies, currently a power reserved for governors.
— Give the president power to shift around funds that have been earmarked by Congress.
The strategy also calls for new state laws:
— Creating tighter minimum standards for obtaining drivers licenses.
— Ensuring the availability of terrorism insurance for business and property owners.
— Creating lines of succession for the state judiciary in the event of a catastrophic attack.
— Updating procedures for ordering emergency quarantines in cases of bioterrorism.
Looking ahead to the president's next budget, the strategy identifies eight priority areas for "substantial" spending increases meant to:
— Improve FBI analysis of threats by quadrupling the number of staff members sifting through intelligence.
— Institute infrastructure-protection assessment programs at the new Department of Homeland Security.
— Create "smart borders" that keep terrorists out by bolstering intelligence, international cooperation and the identification process for foreign visitors.
— Improve security of international shipping containers by better identifying high-risk containers, inspecting them with high-technology devices and developing more secure containers.
— Develop sensors and procedures for preventing terrorist use of nuclear weapons.
— Research and development of vaccines and antidotes against bioterrorism.
— Enhance information-sharing across the federal government.
