is new agency would report to the president directly and would be overseen by a joint congressional committee, much like other cabinet level agencies. Once this agency is established, it will have to contend with such issues as establishing a budget, the legalities involved in the treatment of victims of attacks (in hospitals), resources to support the treatment of mass casualties and/or panic flight from cities. Although the establishment of a new agency sounds like a good idea in managing the problem of terrorism, there are criticisms of this idea. The first criticism may be seen as an historic one. Essentially, critics contend that cold war era civil defense could not do much to prevent a nuclear bomb from landing in the US, so what could a modern era agency, such as the one proposed, do to prevent terrorist attack? Also, this agency is mainly a planning and clean-up agency, it does not go far in detecting potential terrorist threats. Another criticism maintains that a new agency will dull the effectiveness of established government agencies that do not do such a bad job at counter terrorism as it is. Of course, any new government agency needs money and manpower. Inevitably these resources must come from somewhere, most likely from the established agencies. Critics believe that perhaps we do not need a new agency. Maybe what is needed is more coordination in detecting and preventing terrorist attacks by the established government agencies such as the Department of Defense, FBI, FEMA, and Department of Justice.Also it has been suggested that the president appoint the vice president to take on the role of “homeland defense czar”. The vice president would be advised and assisted by an emergency planning staff directed by the National Coordinator for Security, Critical Infrastructure and Counter-terrorism (as was previously mentioned). The vice president would chair a National Emergency Planning Council, with repr...
