DHS tweaks strategy for USDA agencies

Washington-The Bush Administration has agreed not to disrupt the bulk of functions at USDA-APHIS and Plum Island Animal Disease Facility, according to the latest news reports.

If the administration's plan survives both legislative assemblies ofCongress, only border inspectors and quarantine agents of the U.S. Departmentof Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the PlumIsland Animal Disease Center would be required to join the Department ofHomeland Security (DHS).

The new agency would manage all safeguarding activities related to respondingto biological, nuclear, or other terrorist attacks, such as those directedat the food supply.

During a Senate hearing, Dr. Alfonso Torres, director of the New YorkState Animal Health Diagnostic Laboratory, testified that dividing APHISand Plum Island is appropriate.

"(It) has many functions that are not totally related to the exclusionof animal diseases and plant pests from entering our country," saysTorres, who is also associate dean of the Cornell University College ofVeterinary Medicine.

As expected, a spokesman for APHIS says he backs the president 100 percent.

"My only comment at this level in the agency is that we supportthe president and are prepared to carry out whatever our instructions areas it pertains to homeland security," says Ed Curlett, APHIS.

The plan passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 295 to132.

Expressing caution, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., speakingat the Senate hearing, says he expects the DHS legislation would likelybe put on hold until September. He says he believes the Senate would bewise to closely examine the Bush Administration's plan to merge 22 agenciesinto a single Cabinet department with 170,000 employees and a $37 billionbudget.