Bush Taps Kerik For Homeland Post

[David]

AP


President Bush on Friday announced former NYPD commissioner Bernard Kerik as his choice to head the Department of Homeland Security, saying Kerik has "the background and the passion needed to protect our citizens."

Kerik, who helped rally New York City's police force and its citizens following the Sept. 11 terror attacks, will replace Tom Ridge, who announced his resignation last week.

"He understands the duties that came to America on September 11. The resolve he felt that morning will guide him every day on his job," Mr. Bush said of Kerik at a White House briefing.

"I'm grateful he's agreed to bring his lifetime of security experience and skill to one of the most important positions in the federal government," Mr. Bush said.

Kerik is a longtime ally of Mr. Bush and is a man Republicans in Congress say is the sort of strong law enforcement image the Homeland Security Department needs.

In other changes in the Bush Cabinet, the president announced Thursday that he had chosen Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns as secretary of Agriculture to oversee the nation's farm and food programs. He will replace Ann Veneman.

Also Thursday, U.N. Ambassador John Danforth submitted his resignation. Danforth had taken the post last June. He had been mentioned as a successor to Secretary of State Colin Powell, but Mr. Bush picked Condoleezza Rice instead. Danforth says he plans to retire.

As he lines up his second-term team, seven members of Mr. Bush's 15-member Cabinet have submitted their resignations. Another departure, by Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, also appeared to be near.

The 49-year-old Kerik's path to the top homeland security position was unconventional, but he campaigned arduously for Mr. Bush this year.

A military policeman in South Korea in the 1970s, Kerik's first anti-terrorism work was as a paid private security worker in Saudi Arabia. He joined the New York Police Department in 1986, first walking a beat in Times Square when it was still a haven for small-time hustlers.

He eventually was tapped to lead the city's corrections department, and was appointed police commissioner in 2000.

It was in that position that he became known to the rest of the country, supervising the NYPD's response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, often at the side of then-mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Kerik helped repair a department that lost 23 members and became a steady hand for a population deeply shaken by the attacks.

Most recently, he has been a consultant for Giuliani Partners, working to rebuild Baghdad's police force.

"Coming from New York, Bernie Kerik knows the great needs and challenges this country faces in homeland security," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y, who, along with his Senate colleagues, will need to confirm Kerik to his new post. "He has a strong law enforcement background and I believe will do an excellent job in fighting for the resources and focus that homeland security needs and deserves in our post-9/11 world."

Kerik inherits a new and sprawling bureaucracy. The creation of the department in 2003 combined 22 disparate federal agencies with more than 180,000 employees and a combined budget of $36 billion. The organization is still learning to work together and faces criticism over aspects from the coordination of finances to computer systems.

Mr. Bush initially opposed the creation of the department, but changed his tune as its support on Capitol Hill grew.