Ridge wants to consolidate security work at borders

MIAMI -- People entering the United States would ideally meet with a single Homeland Security officer who would oversee all matters of customs, immigration and law enforcement, Secretary Tom Ridge said Thursday.

Ridge, in Miami for his first public visit with department employees since his confirmation last week, described plans to combine border security and inspection agencies to streamline the entry process and increase the chance of catching terrorists and weapons at the border.

"Instead of four faces at the border, we'll have one," Ridge said at Miami's seaport. "The focus here is to help legitimate goods and people enter our country swiftly, and keep dangerous people and their weapons out."

Ridge later toured the Port of Miami on a U.S. Customs boat, flanked by patrol craft from a half-dozen enforcement agencies. He also met privately with officials at Miami International Airport, where some of the Sept. 11 hijackers entered the United States.

Bigger budget sought

Ridge aides said President Bush will seek a large increase in funds for the new agency next year. Under the president's proposal, the department would have a budget of $36.2 billion in the fiscal year that begins in October. That is just short of a 10 percent increase above the combined budgets of all the agencies being rolled into the Homeland Security Department.

Homeland security spending across the government -- including the military -- would increase from $37.7 billion to $41.3 billion, officials said.

A good deal of the new spending would go toward upgrading the ships and aircraft of the Coast Guard, also joining Ridge's department, officials said.

In Washington, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee called on federal agencies to set stricter policies for screening identification at U.S. borders. He released the findings of a General Accounting Office report that showed undercover investigators made it into the country from Canada, Mexico and Jamaica by land, sea and air, using fake IDs and carrying undeclared cash.

"The agents on the front lines obviously need to be a lot more vigilant," said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa. "Bouncers at college bars could spot the kind of fake IDs that were used by investigators. The officials in charge of border security need to be at least that good at their jobs."

Ridge's visit to Miami -- where 4,000 of the department's 170,000 employees work -- comes as the agency undertakes the largest government reorganization since the creation of the Defense Department five decades ago.

Standing in front of a moored Coast Guard cutter, Ridge outlined his vision for the department, which Bush proposed in response to the Sept. 11 attacks.

"The sheer depth and breadth of this nation ... means that one slip, one gap, one vengeful person, can threaten the lives of our citizens, at any time, in any number of ways," he said. "The good people of Homeland Security are not complacent.

The department will combine customs, immigration, the Border Patrol and animal and plant health inspectors. Its work will be divided among two bureaus: the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, which will work at the border and ports of entry, and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which will handle investigation and enforcement.

Any suspicious people or items found by the Homeland Security officers would be referred to department specialists, said Asa Hutchinson, undersecretary for Border and Transportation Security.

He dismissed concerns that a single officer may not have the necessary skills to detect a potential terrorist.

"We're not going to diminish levels of expertise," Hutchinson said.