By Eric Pianin and Bill Miller
Washington Post Staff Writers

Five months after the attacks on New York and Washington, Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said yesterday that U.S. borders remain disturbingly vulnerable
to terrorists and complained that there is no "direct line of accountability" for agencies charged with protecting them.

Ridge said the nation's borders with Canada and Mexico remain "pretty vulnerable" despite deployment of several hundred National Guard troops, a number of new
policies designed to tighten border security and President Bush's proposal for record spending increases to beef up the forces guarding the borders.

Clearly smarting from resistance to his proposal to consolidate the responsibilities of several border agencies, Ridge suggested that "turf" wars may be standing in the
way of government reform essential to improved coordination and the country's security.

After weeks of behind-the-scenes tensions between Ridge and top officials of the Customs Service, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Border Patrol
and the Coast Guard, Ridge yesterday began to make his case publicly.

"Obviously, no agency that has been part of that discussion thinks it's a very good idea," Ridge said during a luncheon meeting with Washington Post reporters and
editors. "If you asked me today who is responsible for the borders, I'd say to you in response, 'What part of the borders?' I just think it makes sense to have more
accountability to the president and ultimately more accountability to the Congress."

None of the terrorists who took part in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon entered the United States through Canada or Mexico. But even as
the National Guard prepares to send 1,600 more troops to the borders, anti-terrorism experts and many lawmakers remain concerned that terrorists could take
advantage of porous borders along thousands of miles of frontier.

Ridge said U.S. seaports, which receive 5.7 million cargo containers a year, are even more at risk.

During the wide-ranging session, Ridge also said that he believes fugitive terrorist leader Osama bin Laden is still alive, that military action in Afghanistan and efforts to
cut off funding for the al Qaeda terrorist network have likely deterred more attacks and that he is close to unveiling a new national alert plan that would give the public
a clearer understanding of terror warnings when they are issued.

Last month, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said he thought bin Laden was still in Afghanistan and discounted the possibility that he might have died of
kidney failure. Ridge, who receives daily intelligence briefings, said, "I hope I'm wrong," but "I suspect that when the heat got too close, [bin Laden] had several
avenues of exit."

Appointed by Bush in October "to lead, oversee and coordinate" a national crusade against domestic terrorism, Ridge has taken a strong hand in shaping Bush's
proposal to double spending for homeland security activities. He has also been developing initiatives to revamp the way U.S. intelligence information is disseminated
throughout the government and impose national standards on agencies that are preparing to handle terrorist acts.

Bush last week proposed spending $10.7 billion on border security in fiscal 2003, a $2.1 billion increase that is expected to be well-received on Capitol Hill. But
Ridge's ideas on consolidating border security within a single department have touched off heated debate within the federal government and among lawmakers.

The Treasury, Justice and Transportation departments are reluctant to give up control over those operations. Some administration officials have complained that
Ridge tried to push through his plan without the president's approval and before building a consensus.

Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) said that he is not surprised Ridge's proposal is running into trouble within the
administration but that "the cost in terms of lost security is too much to tolerate." Lieberman and Rep. William M. "Mac" Thornberry (R-Tex.) have introduced
legislation that would consolidate budget authority for border and homeland security under Ridge.

Ridge said yesterday that he is determined to tie border security agencies together through technology and that he still is weighing an "even broader merger."

                                               © 2002