Homeland security makeover
January 9, 2009 | By Nathaniel Ward
President-elect Barack Obama's transition team has announced an important overhaul of the nation's homeland security apparatus. Under the proposal, the White House Homeland Security Council, created after 9/11, would be merged into the National Security Council.
The Heritage Foundation's national security experts recommended just such a change in a September 2008 article written with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Members of President-elect Obama's transition team studied Heritage and CSIS report before making the decision final this week.
Heritage expert James Carafano tells the Associated Press why this reform will improve our security team:
Merging the two councils has been discussed for years among experts, who believe it would streamline security efforts and eliminate overlap.
Having two separate councils made sense six years ago when the department was brand new, but now it's time to think about national security issues more holistically, said James Carafano, a fellow with the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
"Danger doesn't respect borders, whether you're talking about natural disasters or economic disasters," he said, adding that there's almost no homeland security issue that doesn't have an international angle to it.
The key is giving the national security adviser strong deputies to handle the issues, he said.
Other Heritage work of note
- Heritage has released a new graphic that demonstrates the failure of FDR's New Deal spending "stimulus." The graphic, part of our À la Chart series sent to news media, was featured yesterday on National Review Online's "The Corner."
- This week, Heritage kicked off a year-long partnership with talk radio hosts Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Limbaugh has this to say on-air Wednesday:
The Heritage Foundation is run by a good friend of mine named Ed Feulner. They were, in large part, responsible for many policies that came out of the Reagan administration. And we are welcoming the Heritage Foundation as a new partner to the EIB Network this month…The Heritage Foundation is a group of smart thinkers and scholars, excellent writers, and they churn stuff out faster than you can keep up with it: How to move the country forward, how to provide information that people can digest and then spread to others.
In other news
- The unemployment rate reached a 16-year high of 7.2 percent last month. According to government data, the economy lost 1.9 million jobs in the last four months alone.
- Reports suggest that President-elect Obama intends to change President Bush's doctrine of isolating the Islamist organization Hamas. He is looking to establish a channel of communication and conduct "low-level diplomacy."
- The Illinois House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to impeach Governor Rod Blagojevich, who is accused of, among other things, trying to sell the President-elect's now vacant Senate seat. The state senate will now hold a trial.
- The United Nations has called for a cease-fire in Gaza. Nevertheless, neither Israel nor Hamas relented from the fighting that began on December 27.
- Father Richard John Neuhaus, the conservative writer, public leader, and editor-in-chief of First Things magazine, passed away yesterday. The 72 year old had been battling cancer.
Coming up at Heritage
To attend these or any other events at Heritage please RSVP at Heritage's website. Or you can view these events live online. All times are Eastern.
- On Tuesday, January 13 at noon, Greg Foster, author of The Contested Public Square: The Crisis of Christianity and Politics, will discuss moral law and the American Founding.
- On Wednesday, January 14 at noon, a panel of experts will discuss the shifting dynamics of market economies between the U.S., Saudi Arabia and China.
Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation. David Talbot contributed to this report.