DHS pushes for its own joint command.

• Position: Department of Homeland Security - Brief article

The Department of Homeland Security has asked Congress for $50 million to organize a joint staff office to tie together its 22 agencies.

The national preparedness integration program would be modeled on the Pentagon's Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to George Foresman, DHS undersecretary for preparedness.

New legislation is not needed to authorize the program. However, the department would need the funding to set up the office and hire additional personnel, he said.

The purpose will be to provide a "thread" between the agencies that is lacking now, and break down barriers while preserving agencies' unique cultures and identities, he said.

"We can't ask the Secret Service to stop being the Secret Service. We can't expect the United States Coast Guard to stop being the United States Coast Guard" Foresman said at a National Defense Industrial Association homeland security conference. There is, however, a "desire for jointness" among...