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Ridge takes office as homeland secretaryDepartment of Homeland Security launched
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- With a promise to "do everything" he can to reduce U.S. vulnerability to terrorism, Tom Ridge was sworn in Friday as the nation's first secretary for the new Department of Homeland Security, created in the wake of the deadly September 11, 2001 attacks. The former Pennsylvania governor faces a considerable challenge, overseeing the largest reorganization of the federal government in more than 50 years. "It begins a vital mission in the defense of our country," President Bush said of the new department. Ridge took the oath of office, administered by Vice President Dick Cheney, at the White House with Bush by his side. He becomes the administration's 15th Cabinet secretary. The president called Ridge "a superb leader who has my confidence" and also cited his "decisive, clear-thinking" executive skills. Those skills will likely be tested as the vast new department, officially launched Friday, is organized. The department will assimilate roughly 170,000 to 180,000 employees from 22 departments. Creation of the new department represents the biggest reorganization of the federal government since the Department of Defense opened in 1947. At a news conference Friday afternoon, Ridge, 57, vowed to "do everything we can to prevent a terrorist attack, to reduce our vulnerability, to prepare for an attack, to respond as quickly as possible, to do it to our very best ability every single day." Bush named Ridge -- who is also a former congressman -- as his White House adviser on homeland security after the attacks. Ridge resigned from that position Friday after he was sworn into the Cabinet post. His nomination as homeland secretary was unanimously approved by the Senate Wednesday.
"We're going to do things differently; we need to do things differently," Ridge said. "We build the existing capacity we have. We've got 170,000 men and women that go to work every day trying to protect America -- they work at the borders, they works at the airports, they work at labs. And this new department gives us a chance to do a better job of putting them together, where we think consolidating some of their work will make our borders safer." Ridge said the various agencies and offices that will fall under his control will begin moving into the new department's Washington complex on March 1 and that a lot of "behind-the-scenes planning" has already been completed. It's expected to take months before the department becomes fully operational. Bush originally resisted efforts to form the new agency, and Ridge is credited with helping to persuade him to change his mind. Though Ridge faced no Senate opposition, Minority Leader Tom Daschle accused the Bush administration Wednesday of short-changing homeland security efforts in its budget. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-New York, hit on that theme Friday.(Full story) In comment prepared for delivery later Friday, Clinton called the nation's homeland security a "myth" and proposed remedies to beef up resources. "Our people remain vulnerable," she said. "The truth is we are not prepared. We are not supporting our first responders, and our approach to securing our nation is haphazard at best," she said. Among her recommendations is establishing a "public-private security task force" within the Department of Homeland Security "that would work with industry leaders and security experts to help develop minimum security standards for certain industry sectors to follow." CNN Producer Phil Hirschkorn contributed to this report.
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