US President George Bush will today call for new measures to prevent nuclear strikes and for expanded powers to crack down on suspected terrorists in a comprehensive strategy to protect the nation for the first time since September 11th.
"We are today a nation at risk to a new and changing threat," Mr Bush will tell "fellow Americans" in a letter outlining his National Strategy for Homeland Security later today.
The letter warns that "our enemies are working to obtain chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons for the purpose of wreaking unprecedented damage on America."
Under the plan, which Mr Bush will present to lawmakers at a White House meeting today, the administration would in its fiscal 2004 budget provide funding for the deployment of new sensors to prevent attackers from using nuclear weapons.
The White House would also develop new "vaccines, antimicrobials and antidotes" to protect Americans from deadly germ agents, as well as boost the FBI's "analytic capabilities," expand the Coast Guard and improve security at the nation's ports.
The White House did not say how much Mr Bush's plan would cost. But it estimated current spending on homeland security at $100 billion per year, including expenditures by federal, state and local governments, as well as the private sector.
In the short-term, Mr Bush's homeland security strategy calls for Congress to consider new ways to use the National Guard and combat air patrols as part of the nation's defences, which Mr Bush has been bolstering since the September hi-jacked plane attacks on America.
Officials said Mr Bush also wanted to place new restrictions on the public's access to information about material at US chemical and nuclear plants.
Mr Bush will also seek new laws expanding his authority to extradite suspected attackers, and ask Congress to grant him the power to reorganize federal agencies in response to future crises. "The terrorist threat to America takes many forms, has many places to hide, and is often invisible," Mr Bush warned.