Letters to the editor

The following are responses from an FCW.com poll question that asked (beginning April 13): Should the Office of Homeland Security be replaced by a cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security?

The Office of Homeland Security should be an accountable authority that has the power to make decisions on matters of security and have them implemented. To do less makes the office more a political ombudsman.

It should be Cabinet-level if it reports directly to the president or its function is given to an existing Cabinet-level authority. In its present form, it is a bureaucratic entity without oversight or real authority and should be abolished.

R. Edward Kennedy

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For the expense, I do not see significant results. The program places many of our constitutional rights in jeopardy. When you consider the people who die on the road every year as opposed to die at the hands of terrorists, the priorities are misplaced.

Heightened awareness is necessary, but today it has become a method to control the populous. Our founding fathers would have all been hung had the Revolutionary War been lost. Even under that pressure, they advocated more — not less — freedom.

Fred Nagel Occupational Safety and Health Administration California

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My experience has shown that something this technical, new and far-reaching needs the attention from the highest level possible. This places it at a level of importance that assures greater resource availability and the direction this project will need.

Ed Valusek U.S. Air Force

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The last thing we need is another Cabinet-level agency. There has already been enough knee-jerk reaction to the events of Sept. 11.

Al Nease Air Force Research Laboratory

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Isn't there already a Cabinet-level agency charged with homeland defense? Isn't it called the Defense Department?

Jeff Parnes

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The Democrats only want oversight authority so they can guarantee the failure of the program, blame Bush for the failure and gain political capital. Congress cannot keep secrets and several members of Congress, of the Democrat party of course, are actually friendly to America's enemies.

Tony Compton