Domestic security chief Tom Ridge summoned the President's Homeland Security Advisory Council for its second meeting at a time when the Senate is poised to resume debate next week on the shape of the new department.
While the Senate and White House agree on most details of the agency, Bush has threatened to veto any measure that does not give him the flexibility he seeks in connection with the department's hiring and spending policies. Democrats say his demands amount to an assault on union collective bargaining and the civil service system.
Ridge stood firm by Bush's position, insisting the sweeping government reorganization must do more than "change the optics on the organizational chart."
Ridge argued that combining departments and agencies into one new agency isn't enough.
"We may have bolted a couple of pieces together, but we will not have integrated personnel, integrated technology, integrated mission and we will not have maximized this country's effort or responsibility to do everything we possibly can to protect our citizens and our way of life," he said.
The panel, heavy with representatives of corporate America, echoed Ridge's view, often borrowing White House words like "flexibility."
"Management needs to have both the flexibility and the ability and the will to reward the change agents," said David Bell, vice chairman of the Interpublic Group of Companies.
Bell said no incentives should be given to "those who I call 'turf leaders,' obstructionists, or those who fight for the status quo instead of for the new vision."
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