Domestic Defense a Priority

Federal funding for aviation security would triple. Spending to defend against bioterrorist attacks would quadruple. And money to help police and firefighters respond to calamities would increase more than tenfold.

Those details are part of the first-ever homeland security budget that was folded into the Bush administration spending plan released Monday.

The $37.7-billion proposal for the 2003 fiscal year--nearly double what is now being spent--reflects a consensus desire in Washington to do everything possible to protect Americans from terrorism.

But the proposal is only a beginning for a spending category that seems likely to grow in coming years. White House Office of Homeland Security Director Thomas J. Ridge, whose position Bush created in the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, described the measures as “important, substantive first steps.”

Ridge told reporters that he is drafting a new national strategy for homeland security, which he expects to deliver to Bush by midyear. That review could spur far more sweeping proposals in fiscal 2004 and beyond.

Congress is likely to have many of its own costly ideas as well.

Late last year, many lawmakers were clamoring to add funding for homeland security, including proposals for defending roads, bridges and power plants and bolstering the public health system.

The Bush administration beat back those requests, but they are likely to be raised anew.

Some critics in Congress, however, say that a comprehensive assessment of where the nation is most vulnerable and what should be done about it is overdue.

“We do not have a well-developed, clearly articulated strategy for homeland defense,” said Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice).

Of the new budget proposals, Harman said: “There are some good ideas. But what is missing is organization. Have they picked the right four or five subjects? Are they the ones where we are at highest risk?”

Monday’s homeland security budget represents a collection of programs from agencies across the government, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the departments of Defense, Justice and Transportation.

Drawing attention to the initiative, the administration put a Minuteman logo on every page in the budget in which an agency had a mission related to homeland security.

One major focus was bioterrorism. To help safeguard the public from biological attacks, such as the anthrax outbreaks that killed five people last year, the administration proposed spending $5.9 billion, up from $1.4 billion currently.

The money would help in four key areas, according to the Bush proposal:

* Helping state and local health systems respond to attacks. Hospitals, for instance, would get $591 million to improve communications systems, install decontamination facilities and set up regional plans.

* Improving research and development in the hunt for vaccines, diagnostic tests and rapid identification of deadly pathogens.

* Adding resources for the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile, a collection of medicines that could help millions of victims in a biological attack.

* Strengthening interagency communications. A new information system, for example, would link emergency medical responders with public health officials.

Another focus was additional funding for so-called “first responders.”

As previously announced, the budget includes $3.5 billion to help police and firefighters, up from a mere $291 million in the current fiscal year.

A third priority, aviation security, would increase to $4.8 billion in the next year from $1.5 billion now. Much of the new money would go to hire thousands of new federal security workers at major airports across the country.

The emphasis on homeland security could have ripple effects throughout the government. After all, $37.7 billion is more than the budgets of many agencies.

In the Justice Department--which is to receive almost $26 billion in the new budget--the proposed counter-terrorism budget would increase by $2 billion, or 144% from the current year. But some local law-enforcement programs that have been popular in California and elsewhere could suffer.

One of the big law-enforcement losers in Bush’s proposal is the community-oriented policing services program, or COPS, a staple of the Clinton era that has provided local police departments with money to hire more officers.

The Bush plan would slash funding for the hiring of new officers by $370 million.

The Justice Department believes that the program has met its goal of providing funds for 100,000 new officers and that money could be better spent elsewhere, a senior department official said.

But congressional supporters of the program say that the 100,000 goal has not in fact been met, and they promised a fight.

Justice Department officials insisted Monday that they are not abandoning local governments and will be shifting their resources elsewhere, but they acknowledged that fighting terrorism must now be the “No. 1 priority” at all levels of government.

“Defending the citizens of America against terrorist attacks is the first and overriding priority of the Department of Justice,” and the budget plan reflects that new reality, said Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft.