- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President
Bush on Tuesday proposed a strategy to protect America from terrorism that
includes using the U.S. military to enforce quarantines during a biological
attack and "red teams" of agents thinking like terrorists to
pinpoint weaknesses.
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- The strategy includes an element that evokes futuristic
Hollywood thrillers in its plan for teams to develop ways to detect behavior
indicating the "hostile intent" of a potential terrorist.
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- "Protecting Americans from attack is our most urgent
national priority and we must act on the priority," Bush said in his
long-awaited roll-out of the national homeland security strategy he ordered
in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
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- Bush announced his initiative in the White House Rose
Garden after he met key members of Congress with a role in homeland security
legislation.
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- The plan calls for new extradition and secrecy laws,
new vaccines, tighter border inspections and a major effort to protect
infrastructure such as power plants and pipelines.
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- It also calls for high-tech methods to identify people
and for nationwide standards on state drivers' licenses. But it stops short
of urging a national identity card that some have called for but others
have resisted, citing fears of government intrusion.
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- The 71-page plan is detailed in a booklet illustrated
with pictures of a freeway interchange, a nuclear power plant, a Washington
subway station -- presumably potential targets.
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- BRAINSTORMING 'RED TEAMS'
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- In another Hollywood-style scenario outlined in the strategy,
"red teams" of federal agents would think like terrorists brainstorming
ways to attack U.S. targets, in order to devise better methods of protecting
them.
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- The plan envisions a greater role for the U.S. military
in domestic security. Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, who developed
the overall strategy, said this may include using troops to enforce a quarantine
in the event of a biological attack.
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- He told CNN television the "rules of engagement"
for such a circumstance should be worked out ahead of time.
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- Other proposals would overhaul the Coast Guard with new
ships and anti-terror gear, improve the ability of government computer
systems to talk to each other, and work internationally to make passports
harder to forge.
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- The plan calls on state and local governments and the
private sector to bear a significant share of the costs. It estimated the
costs of private security for businesses could double from the $55 billion
spent before Sept. 11.
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- Bush's plan is centered around his proposed new Cabinet
Department of Homeland Security, which was outlined earlier.
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- "This comprehensive plan lays out clear lines of
authority and clear responsibilities -- responsibilities for federal employees
and for governors and mayors and community and business leaders and the
American citizens. With a better picture of those responsibilities, all
of us can direct money and manpower to meet them," Bush said.
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- Bush urged lawmakers to complete work on establishing
the Homeland Security Department.
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- House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert said
after the Bush speech that he would like to complete action by Sept. 11,
the first anniversary of the hijacked plane attacks that killed about 3,000
people.
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- "We'd like have it done by September 11, however
we're not going to let haste get in the way of getting a good piece of
legislation," said Hastert, an Illinois Republican.
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