The Washington Post reported this week that Congressional and White House officials said Thursday that it will take up to one year to merge the 22 agencies--with over 170 thousand employees--into the new Homeland Security Department; it will be much longer before the new agency can effectively protect the country from terrorist activities.
The Washington Times reported President Bush warned Saddam Hussein not to lie again by saying that it has no weapons of mass destruction and urged NATO members to support the US in the fight against terrorism.
The Boston Globe reported Friday that a top al Qaida official in charge of terrorist activities in the Arabian peninsula, including the attack on the USS Cole in 2000, was captured.