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."

President Bush's plan to create a Department of Homeland Security doesn't go far enough to prevent the kind of intelligence lapses that took place before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. His proposal doesn't give the head of the new department control ...

Richard Shelby: "It doesn't address ... the intelligence problems that we have."

Bob Graham: the FBI and CIA "don't talk very well to each other".

Clients of KPNQwest were bracing for a possible final shutdown of the company's network, as it was unclear whether a last-minute effort to keep it running had succeeded.

Anyone looking for the next big thing in Silicon Valley should stop here at Layne Holt's garage.

Mr. Holt and his business partner, John Furrier, both software engineers, have started a company with a shoestring budget and an ambitious target: the cable and phone companies that currently hold a near-monopoly on high-speed access for the "last mile" between the Internet and the home.

Adelphia Communications, the troubled cable operator, dismissed its auditors, Deloitte & Touche, yesterday, even as the company appeared to come closer to filing for bankruptcy protection.

It is one of the enduring cycles of the Internet: the techies build a utopia and then complain when noisy crowds crash their party.

This time it is happening to Weblogs. ...

This book has a simple message: think networks.

It is about how networks emerge, what they look like, and how they evolve. It aims to develop a web-based view of nature, society, and technology, providing a unified framework to better understand issues ranging from the vulnerability of the Internet to the spread of diseases. Networks are present everywhere. All we need is an eye for them ...

We will see the challenges doctors face when they attempt to cure a disease by focusing on a single molecule or gene, disregarding the complex interconnected nature of the living matter. We will see that hackers are not alone in attacking networks: we all play Goliath, firing shots at a fragile ecological network that, without further support, could soon replicate our worst nightmares by turning us into an isolated group of species ...

Missed opportunities haunt us. On Sept. 11, information was everywhere. ...

Was there another way? A system or technology to alert the victims to the opportunities for escape and to guide them away from the dead ends? A way to turn that ad hoc information network into a real public safety system?

From intelligence agencies to business leaders to copier repairmen, the critical issue is no longer getting information, but getting the right information to the right people at the right time. And that turns out to be one of the hardest tasks around.

... When organizations are structured more like the Internet, with its multiple routes for information, and less like a top-down fiefdom, information flows more freely and efficiently.

Until very recently, one of the most striking things about our economy was how common it was for young people to make a lot of money quickly. For nearly 20 years, except for a year or two in the early 90's, a college student has been able to gaze out of his dorm-room window and see a well-traveled path to millions. His ability to imagine himself getting very rich very quickly was an ingredient in the modern money culture. ...

That's what 27-year-olds did, strike it rich.

This youthward shift in moneymaking has had all sorts of strange social effects. ...

That was some party we had. But the boom years are long over now, a rapidly receding memory, and we're still reeling a bit from our drunken excess. Unfortunately, this is one hangover that won't be cured with a couple of aspirins and a nap. In fact, this thing could last awhile. ...

The Internet now looks more like a Florida land deal than a New Economy gold mine.