LEAHY SAYS BUSH SEEKS DEPARTMENT 'ABOVE THE LAW'

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee ( news - web sites) Chairman
Patrick Leahy charged on Wednesday that the Bush administration was
effectively asking Congress to put its proposed department to combat
terrorism "above the law."

Leahy told Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge that to win swift
congressional approval of the department -- designed to guard against
another Sept. 11-like attack -- the administration must revise or drop
provisions that would exempt the operation from a number of legal requirements.

The Vermont Democrat said, "One sure way to slow things down is to cobble
together a collection of unrelated political items in the bill, under the
heading 'management flexibility,"' which would provide wiggle room in
dealing with the law -- particularly on public accountability.

"That's very troubling," Leahy said in opening a hearing by his committee
on President Bush ( news - web sites)'s proposed Department of Homeland
Security.

Ridge, making his third appearance on Capitol Hill in seven days, replied,
"I'm here to convey personally the president's desire to work with Congress."

Ridge has steadfastly promoted Bush's plan to fold into a new department
all or parts of 22 existing federal agencies -- including the Secret
Service ( news - web sites), Coast Guard and Border Patrol. He has also
shown a willingness to resolve differences with Congress and did so again
on Wednesday.

While there has been bipartisan support for creating a department to
protect the nation against terrorist attacks, there have been concerns
about portions of the Bush plan -- ranging from what the operation would
cost to whether intelligence failures by the FBI ( news - web sites) and
CIA ( news - web sites) would be fixed.

Strong Criticism

Leahy voiced some of the toughest criticism yet, telling Ridge on
Wednesday, "I am concerned that the administration's proposal would exempt
the new department from many legal requirements that apply to other agencies."

"The Freedom of Information Act would not apply. The conflicts of interest
and accountability rules for agency advisers would not apply," Leahy said.

He added, "The new department would have the right to suspend the
Whistle-blower Protection Act," which shields from retribution federal
workers who shed public light on government problems.

"In these respects, the administration is asking us to put this new
department above the law and outside checks and balances these laws are put
there to ensure," Leahy said.

Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, voiced some of the same
concerns, particularly about "whistle-blowers," whom he called "an asset to
government."

"We will work with you," Ridge replied. He vowed to revise the provision on
whistle-blowers in Bush's bill to create the Department of Homeland
Security so it mirrored language on such protection at other federal agencies.

"I think that's a pretty good answer," Grassley said.

At a second hearing later in the day on the proposed department, House of
Representatives Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, a
Wisconsin Republican, told Ridge to expect plenty of congressional scrutiny.

Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the panel's top Democrat, added, "I'm
concerned that the department's lack of accountability threatens our
nation's history as an open government."

With Bush demanding fast action on his proposed department, and lawmakers
asking lots of questions, more than a dozen congressional hearings on the
subject are scheduled this week.

FBI Director Robert Mueller and CIA Director George Tenet are to appear on
Thursday before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee ( news - web
sites), which is examining how the two intelligence agencies would work
with the new department.

Bush wants the department to be a clearinghouse for information from those
and other agencies to stop the kinds of communication failures that may
have been able to prevent the Sept. 11 attacks.

Mueller and Tenet were called to closed-door meeting on Wednesday of the
House Intelligence Committee, which has been looking into the failure of
U.S. intelligence to thwart the Sept. 11 attack.

The full House on Wednesday, on a 422-2 vote, passed and sent to the Senate
for concurrence legislation that would direct Bush to design procedures for
sharing homeland security information among federal, state and local
authorities.