WASHINGTON, June 18: US President George W. Bush’s proposed department of homeland security may be housed outside the US capital to protect it against terrorist attacks, a White House official said on Thursday.

“Issues about where the headquarters are and all that have not been resolved ... I think the transition planning team is going to look at a whole range of options,” the official said as he briefed reporters on Bush’s formal legislation to establish the department.

The official had been asked whether the department would be located outside of Washington for security reasons.

White House Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge gave the proposal to congressional leaders on Tuesday.

The plan is designed to improve protection of the United States against terrorist attacks by consolidating homeland security activities across some 22 government agencies into a new cabinet department of some 170,000 employees.

A key aim of the massive reorganization is to encourage more sharing of information regarding terrorist threats and vulnerabilities. The Bush administration has been criticized in recent weeks for failing to follow up on information that could have pointed to the Sept 11 attacks.

The legislation does not give the new homeland security secretary an absolute right to routine access to “raw data” regarding threats of terrorism, only to analyses and reports made by intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

But it allows for the president to order that the secretary receive raw data — such as transcripts of intercepted conversations — on “significant and credible threats of terrorism.” In practice, the secretary will have access to such information whenever necessary, Ridge spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

The fact sheet said the secretary will have access to raw data about infrastructure and other vulnerabilities to attack.

The homeland security secretary will have authority over the new threat-warning system developed by Ridge. The U.S. Justice Department currently has responsibility for making the final call on warnings.

The new department would also assume from the State Department authority over issuing visas to enter the United States, according to the fact sheet. The legislation would transfer the Immigration and Naturalization Service to the new department from the Justice Department.

The State Department, which now issues visas, will retain power to deny visas for foreign policy reasons and its employees will process them, the White House official said.

“It (the legislation) unifies the legal authority to issue a visa with the legal authority to admit someone into the country. And that legal authority is currently split,” the White House official said.

Bush is to meet in the afternoon with bipartisan leaders of congressional committees with jurisdiction over the proposed new department’s activities.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the president’s meeting will complete a series of meetings he has had with legislative leaders on the plan.—Reuters