To hear President Bush tell it, the new Department of Homeland Security will improve government's "focus and effectiveness," but the confusion attending many aspects of his proposal suggests that government may be headed for a prolonged period of bureaucratic chaos before things are sorted out.

[Many] changes do not appear to have been carefully thought out, critics say. They say virtually all of the changes risk serious unintended and probably unwelcome consequences, and could provoke ill will between Homeland Security and existing departments.

US Customs, on splitting up the service: "Things are so intertwined -- the trade portion, the investigative portion, the intelligence. If you tried to separate out a function, the way we work, it would be essentially like trying to separate Siamese twins."

On reworking the CDC: "In some, cases you're splitting persons."