RIDGE, ENGLAND NOMINATED TO HEAD DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
The White House on Jan. 8 formally nominated Tom Ridge as secretary and Gordon England as deputy secretary of the new Department of Homeland Security. Their names were sent to the Senate for confirmation.
Ridge is head of the White House Office of Homeland Security and England is Secretary of the Navy.
The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee said it would review the nominations at a hearing Jan. 14.
President Bush signed legislation authorizing the creation of the Department of Homeland Security on Nov. 25. The department is the successor to the White House's Office of Homeland Security, which then-Pennsylvania Gov. Ridge was named to head shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, as the federal government rushed to organize itself to combat terrorist and other threats to domestic security.
Homeland Security will become an official cabinet-level department on Jan. 24. Ridge has the daunting task of quickly cobbling into a cohesive unit 22 agencies, including those responsible for border and transportation security, reassigned from other parts of the government.
Ridge is putting together his staff before he is confirmed and the Washington Post reported Friday that James Clapper will be nominated to lead the department's Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection division. Clapper runs the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, which analyzes satellite photos and makes military maps. He is a former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.