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Nation in brief

Bush proposes democracy corps

By wire services
Published May 19, 2005

WASHINGTON - President Bush, seeking to put muscle behind a promise to support young democracies, said Wednesday the administration is creating a special corps of federal workers that will deploy quickly to help foreign governments in crisis.

Citing the lengthy and difficult task of setting up the U.S.-run occupation government in Iraq after Saddam Hussein's ouster, Bush is proposing $100-million next year for a new conflict response fund and $24-million for a new Office of Reconstruction and Stabilization in the State Department. That office will coordinate U.S. government efforts to support emerging democracies, with the new Active Response Corps of foreign and civil service officers as a crucial tool, Bush said.

"This new corps will be on call - ready to get programs running on the ground in days and weeks instead of months and years," Bush said at a dinner hosted by the International Republican Institute, a federally funded group that promotes democracy worldwide. "If a crisis emerges and assistance is needed, the United States of America will be ready."

WASHINGTON - Environmental and animal rights activists who have turned to arson and explosives are the nation's top domestic terrorism threat, an FBI official told a Senate committee on Wednesday.

Groups such as the Animal Liberation Front, the Earth Liberation Front and Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty are "way out in front" in terms of damage and number of crimes, said John Lewis, the FBI's deputy assistant director for counterterrorism.

"There is nothing else going on in this country over the last several years that is racking up the high number of violent crimes and terrorist actions," Lewis said.

ALF says on its Web site that its small, autonomous groups of people take "direct action" against animal abuse by rescuing animals and causing financial loss to animal exploiters, usually through damage and destruction of property. ELF is an underground movement with no public leadership, membership or spokesperson.

The British-based SHAC describes itself as a worldwide campaign since 1999 to rescue animals tortured in research labs and shut down the businesses that rely on their use. It says it "does not encourage or incite illegal activity."

Lewis said the FBI concluded that after analyzing all types of cases and comparing the groups with "right-wing extremists, KKK, antiabortion groups and the like." He said most animal rights and eco-extremists so far have refrained from violence targeting human life.

WASHINGTON - The Homeland Security Department would be forced to scale back its color-coded alert system for nationwide terror threats and tailor public warnings to specific, targeted locations under a House bill approved Wednesday.

Changes in the threat system were part of a wide-ranging $34-billion bill, approved by a 424-4 vote, that would set Homeland Security priorities for next year. It also would require the hiring of 2,000 border patrol agents - far above the 210 requested by President Bush - and bolster efforts to remove illegal immigrants from the United States.

The White House issued a statement of tepid support for the legislation, saying it has serious concerns that parts of the bill could "hinder the department's ability to implement its various missions."

The color-coded system, introduced in March 2002, has been widely criticized for being too vague to help the public understand what kind of threat it faces. Under the House legislation, Homeland Security would have to give specific information about an attack's target and how to respond to the threat. It would also make the color system optional.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is considering changes to the system that could be announced as soon as next month.

ATLANTA - Directors of Atlanta's United Way voted Wednesday to withhold money for area Boy Scouts pending an investigation into whether the group inflated black membership numbers.

The United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta's board of directors unanimously approved a plan that would give Boy Scouts of America-Atlanta Area Council about $1.3-million for 2005. But about $945,000 of the allocation, the same as the group received for the year ending July 1, will be withheld until the board sees an audit commissioned by the Scouts.

Joe Beasley, regional director of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, claimed in October that the 13-county Boy Scouts council was reporting 10,000 black participants when as few as 500 were actively involved.

[Last modified May 19, 2005, 00:44:07]