Lay of the homeland

Lay of the homeland    Janet Napolitano has spent her first week as homeland security secretary ordering a comprehensive review process for key missions of the Department of Homeland Security and set up aggressive timelines for staff to report back with findings.

Related News •   Transitioning to a new administration •   Napolitano responses to Senate Homeland Security committee •   Napolitano reviews northern border security •   Napolitano hits ground running at DHS •   Napolitano doesn't embrace scan-all law •   Now What? •   Basham to remain CBP chief through spring •   Chertoff warns about scan-all, special interests •   Napolitano picked to head DHS

   The information will serve as the basis for making evaluations about what policies, programs and budgets need to be changed to ensure the United States is ready to prevent or respond to natural and manmade disasters. Transportation and northern border security, local government outreach, and intelligence sharing are some of the areas in which she wants quick answers.
   It’s too early to tell whether she’ll ultimately direct a major reorganization of a department that is still experiencing growing pains five years since its inception. But, as Eric Kulisch reports in February's American Shipper — and online in advance of the printed magazine — several experts want the Obama administration to resist calls for a major overhaul. They say the right strategy is already in place at DHS, but that it just needs better management, coordination and resource development to plug remaining gaps in security.

Napolitano

   There are signs that Napolitano will take a measured, professional approach to her decision-making that may surprise those who expect wholesale changes with a Democrat administration. For one thing, Obama’s transition to power was widely considered to be deftly handled, with personnel choices based largely on merit rather than political patronage. And Napolitano indicated in written responses to the Senate Homeland Security committee handling her confirmation that it may be necessary to put the brakes on a law pushed by Democrats requiring 100-percent imaging at foreign ports of all inbound containers within four years.
   To help with the transition, Napolitano also asked Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Ralph Basham to stay on several months.
   The next major clues about Napolitano’s priorities will come when the administration submits its first budget to Congress in February. ' Eric Kulisch