US/IRAQ: President George W. Bush signed a law yesterday creating a vast Department of Homeland Security to prevent terrorist attacks on the United States, setting in motion the biggest government overhaul in half a century which will take at least a year to complete.
A chief aim of the new department will be to avoid breakdowns in communication between the FBI, CIA and other federal agencies exposed by the 2001 hijacked airliner attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon near Washington that killed about 3,000 people.
Mr Bush said he would nominate White House adviser Mr Tom Ridge to head the new agency.
Mr Ridge is expected to win easy confirmation in the Senate.