HOMELAND INSECURITY - PART ONE: Faced with the challenge of making our security agencies more accountable, George W. Bush has proposed to revise the organization chart. Is this supposed to make me feel more secure?

On the contrary -- I now have a pretty good idea why Bush failed as a businessman in the private sector. This is pure Pointy Haired Boss territory. This is not merely rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic -- it's rearranging the seat assignments on Flight 93.

Let's put it this way: When the Commandant of the Coast Guard reports to Tom Ridge instead of Norman Minetta, will he be any better equipped to stop the suicidal lunatic with the suitcase nuke from steering his skiff under the Brooklyn Bridge?

The problem isn't with the lines of responsibility on the organization chart. The problem is with the names pasted in the boxes. The self-righteous career bureaucrats -- whose indifference, incompetence and criminal negligence caused the problem in the first place -- have got to go.

When I hear that John Ashcroft has decided to "spend more time with his family," I'll start to feel a little bit more secure again.