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Friday, 24 January, 2003, 20:58 GMT
US launches anti-terror body
![]() Ridge is a Vietnam war veteran and former lawyer
The United States Government gained a new ministry on Friday with the launch of the Department of Homeland Security.
Tom Ridge was sworn in at the White House as secretary of the department set up directly as a result of the 11 September terror attacks.
Separately, the US State Department has advised expatriates around the world to be prepared for emergency evacuations from their country of residence in the event of unforeseen circumstances. It was unclear whether the advice was related to concerns over a possible war with Iraq. Introducing Mr Ridge, President George W Bush said that America had terror groups on the run and would keep them on the run.
A decorated Vietnam combat veteran, Mr Ridge is the former governor of Pennsylvania and becomes 18th in line to succeed President Bush - a close friend - after his new appointment. Mr Ridge's department is set to grow to giant proportions in the biggest reorganisation of America's federal government since 1947 in a phased development:
The CIA and the FBI, charged respectively with collecting intelligence overseas and enforcing the law at home, will continue to operate outside the new department, but it will be charged with analysing information provided by them. It will also coordinate the anti-terrorist work of some two million police officers, firefighters, medical personnel and others. Vaccinations As the new department was being launched, a federal anti-terror programme to vaccinate against smallpox was getting under way. Health workers in the state of Connecticut - who would be called upon in the event of a smallpox bio-terrorism attack - were the first to be inoculated. Friday was the first day such vaccinations could be carried out under the Homeland Security Act. In time, nearly half a million doctors, hospital specialists and first-aiders are expected to volunteer for it.
The US military has already begun inoculations of its own. Smallpox was wiped out in 1979, but experts fear that the virus could be used as a weapon by militant groups or "rogue states" such as Iraq. It is highly contagious and has a 33% mortality rate once contracted.
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