New security department starts on mundane tasks of bureaucracy

WASHINGTON -- The biggest government reorganization in half a century is starting with the mundane -- like finding office space and deciding who gets new digs -- in an effort the White House says will take a year.

Nearly two-dozen agencies with tasks as diverse as protecting America's borders and gathering intelligence will be merged into the new Homeland Security Department.

A few weeks after President Bush signs the legislation, the administration will disclose to Congress the timing for each agency to enter the new department, said Gordon Johndroe, the spokesman for Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge. The doors open officially 60 days after Bush signs the bill.

Dealing with all the early problems is the transition planning office under Ridge and personnel director Clay Johnson.

"One goal is getting everyone on the same e-mail system during the transition period of 60 to 90 days," said Johndroe. "We've been working with all these people on how to transition in and integrate it while allowing absolutely no gaps in security."

In Washington, where proximity is power, one question is where the new department will be headquartered.

"I've heard Crystal City, Pentagon City, across the river, over hill, over dale, but if I were secretary I'd urge that the department be downtown," said Paul Light, senior fellow at The Brookings Institution.

"It sounds mundane but all of the little things that give you an identity in this town are important: stationery, a flag, a logo and they'd better have a Web site open pretty soon," Light said.

The administration has made clear there will be major changes in the jobs of many people.

"The idea is to get people from the back office into the front lines," said Johndroe. "Where there are functions that are the same, how can we combine and better utilize personnel and equipment?"

Agencies as diverse as the Secret Service, Immigration and Naturalization Service, Customs Service, Coast Guard, the animal and plant health inspection service, the Plum Island Animal Disease Center and the Commerce Department's critical infrastructure assurance office would be in the new department.

A senior administration official said earlier this week that Ridge is expected to be the president's choice to run the new Cabinet-level department.

While the White House says the consolidation will be completed in little more than a year, creating a "cohesive culture is a multiyear effort that needs consistent and persistent effort from the top," said Comptroller General David Walker, who runs the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress.

Labor unions remain skeptical of the effort.

"There's going to have to be a lot of work done to make this something other than a disaster," said Phil Kete of the American Federation of Government Employees, a union with many members who will work for the new department. "Reorganizations like this are usually counterproductive because of the downtime associated with people worrying about reorganization."

Randall Yim, the GAO's managing director for national preparedness, is guardedly optimistic.

"I would not discount the unifying force that the department will certainly try to instill" because of the ongoing threat of terrorism, said Yim.

10 percent in D.C.

With most workers guarding borders, airports and the coasts, only about 10 percent of the department's prospective 170,000 employees would be in the Washington region.

"Initial space for the new department will not be the same as a couple of years from now when the component agencies are integrated and decisions are made about who needs to be under one roof," Johndroe said. For now, rental space will do.

Another sensitive topic: Uniforms.

"Uniform decisions have not been made yet," said Johndroe. "We'd expect over time there would be some uniformity of the law enforcement officers of this department in terms of attire, but we will respect the longstanding traditions of many of these agencies."

The last time such a massive reorganization took place was after World War II with the creation of the Department of Defense.

Money is one of the many things the new department doesn't have.

Congress hasn't appropriated any yet, and will deal with that problem in January when it returns.