Unifying U.S. national security: "There's general agreement that the United States' security agencies need to be more unified to keep Americans safe, a fact on display at a congressional subcommittee meeting this week.
What the experts and members of Congress cannot agree on is how to bring about that kind of reform.
'The national security system must be modernized to meet the challenges of the 21st century,' said James Locher III, head of the Project on National Security Reform, a government-funded think tank.
'The task will be monumental but there is no alternative.'
Unlike military threats during the Cold War, new challenges the United States might face include an influenza outbreak, natural disasters or unstable states around the world that could become home to extremists. The military, diplomats, aid workers, law enforcement and many other agencies have to work in tandem to address these issues.
But the current system, based on the 1947 National Security Act, separates the departments and leaves little formal room for shared planning and action."
