"In Washington, where proximity is power, one question is where the new department will be headquartered.
"I've heard Crystal City, Pentagon City, across the river, over hill, over dale, but if I were secretary I'd urge that the department be downtown," said Paul Light, senior fellow at The Brookings Institution.
"It sounds mundane but all of the little things that give you an identity in this town are important: stationery, a flag, a logo and they'd better have a Web site open pretty soon," Light said.
Another sensitive topic: Uniforms.
"Uniform decisions have not been made yet," said Johndroe. "We'd expect over time there would be some uniformity of the law enforcement officers of this department in terms of attire, but we will respect the longstanding traditions of many of these agencies."
Yes sirree, the new Department of Homeland Security in its attention to detail is leaving no stone unturned. Smart stationary, an impressive flag, a kickarse logo and all those neatly pressed uniforms are going to show those terrorist bastards that this is a Department not to be messed with.
Dare I suggest this is another example of the great American maxim, which applies to its films, TV programmes and food, that if you package and promote it well enough you can sell the population mindless, tasteless and worthless crap. Fear I'm being a bit harsh there ... shall sit back with a Quarter Pounder and a Starbucks *coffee* and reflect on that.
