Photo Credit: James Tourtellotte

Governor Ridge speaking with federal employees at the Ronald Reagan Building.

Also in attendance were Customs Commissioner Robert Bonner, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Designee Gordon England, Under Secretary for Border and Transportation Security Designee Asa Hutchinson, Coast Guard Admiral Tom Collins, Director of FEMA Joe Allbaugh, INS Commissioner Mike Garcia, and OPM Director Kay Coles James.

The audience of about 600 included employees from Customs, Border Patrol, Transportation Security Administration, Coast Guard, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Immigration and Naturalization Service, and the Federal Protective Service. The forum was also broadcast live on C-SPAN and Customs Television Network (CTN).

Governor Ridge began the town hall meeting by stating, "I know there's a lot of anxiety and hopefully, there's a little bit of excitement because we have the opportunity to do something that happens in this town every 50 or 60 years, and that's create a new department." He spoke of being very aware of how hard everyone was working and how well each and every employee does their job. Ridge also promised to involve employees in solving new challenges. He then took questions from Moderator Frank Sesno and the audience.

Governor Ridge was asked a variety of questions that included the new personnel system, location of the new department, overtime, possible workplace changes, and the technology involved in setting up a new department. He assured employees that nothing would change for one year-jobs, pay, and benefits will all remain secure. At some point after one year, the 22 different personnel systems will merge to create a new DHS personnel management system.

Several Customs employees had the opportunity to ask questions of Governor Ridge. Tony Crowder of the Customs Air and Marine Interdiction office asked, "Given how critically important the Department of Defense is to our national counterterrorism effort, has your policy team had time to think about the line that needs to be drawn between the military and domestic law enforcement agencies when jointly conducting security operations in the homeland?"

Governor Ridge replied, "We have been doing more than thinking about it. We've begun discussions with our colleagues at the Department of Defense because Secretary Rumsfeld, as you know, has created a northern command in the Department of Defense. And this gives us an opportunity because there is a focal point through the civilian chain of command where, Secretary to Secretary and our designees can sit down and work out in advance when we would need and when we could access the very unique capabilities that the Department of Defense would provide for us in either preventing or responding to an attack."

Afterwards Crowder said of the forum, "I came away encouraged by the fact that Gov. Ridge acknowledged that he didn’t have all of the answers but will assemble his staff and seek input from the newly integrated agencies to frame issues and solutions. In essence, the employees will have a voice in the development of the new Department of Homeland Security."

Another audience member voiced the concerns of a number of employees under CSRS about being pushed out before they were ready to retire. "We don't want to force you out; we like experience, and we're not going to change the retirement system," said Ridge.

Audience members were provided with a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employee fact sheet that contained information on the timeline for the new department and why a new department was necessary.

The fact sheet ended with a section titled "Our Commitments to You." Listed were:

• Information about the transition process will be made available to you on a regular basis.
• Current benefits will remain as they are.
• Civil service status, pay, and position classification will remain for a year.
• You will be protected from improper political influence, reprisals against whistleblowers, and prohibited personnel practices.
• Paychecks will be distributed on time.
• Members of collective bargaining units will see no change when they transfer to DHS since those units transfer at the same time.
• All incoming agencies will continue to have input on how the new Department is created.

This fact sheet is available on CustomsNet.

Ridge repeated the information Web site address for DHS: www.dhs.gov. He also stated that after the first of the year there would be a 1-800 telephone number and a newsletter to keep employees informed of the transition process.

He closed the session by stating, "People got up and went to work everyday to protect America before 9/11. They will continue to do that same job after March 1. We will just be learning how to do it better."