Jane Harman: “this legislation means more than moving boxes on an organization chart. For the first time, it provides real authority…”

“this legislation means more than moving boxes on an organization chart. For the first time, it provides real authority to those we count on to protect our country and our constituents. The Department of Homeland Security, with the Homeland Security Council in the White House, will create and implement a comprehensive homeland security strategy, a unified approach will replace the ad hoc efforts now going on across agency and State lines. The Nation and this Congress are strong in their support for a Department of Homeland Security and a coordinated strategy, and I only regret that this legislation was not completed months ago. The legislation is not perfect, as we have heard, but neither was the National Security Act, which created the Department of Defense in 1947. Our national security organization has evolved and improved over time, and so will our homeland security organization. The compromises in this bill are not perfect either, as we have heard, but they are reasonable, and they do make tremendous strides in protecting the security of every neighborhood in America. The legislation does more than reorganize. It includes the information-sharing procedures I cosponsored with the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Chambliss), which passed this House as H.R. 4598 by a vote of 422-2.”