WASHINGTON, Dec 2 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush on Friday nominated Bernark Kerik, who was New York police during the September 11 strikes, to lead the agency charged with thwarting new terrorist attacks on the United States.
"Bernie Kerik understands the duties that came to America on September the 11th," Bush said in in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, adding that Kerik "has the background and the passion that are needed to protect our citizens."
If confirmed by the US Senate, he would replace former Pennyslvania governor Tom Ridge as secretary for Homeland Security, an umbrella agency created after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001.
The fledgling department -- which Bush initially oppposed -- groups 22 previously disparate domestic agencies, including the Secret Service and the Coast Guard, and counts some 180,000 employees.
Kerik, a burly ex-soldier, became the New York City police commissioner in August 2000, and led the city's police during the Al-Qaeda attacks on the city that brought down the World Trade Towers and killed almost 3,000 people.
"Bernie Kerik arrived at the World Trade Center minutes after the first plane hit. He was there when the twin towers collapsed. He knew the faces of the rescuers who rushed toward danger. He attended the funeral of the officers who didn't come back," Bush said.
Kerik quit in December 2001 with the departure of mayor Rudolph Giuliani and was later dispatched to Iraq by Bush after Saddam Hussein's ouster in 2003 with the mission to train Iraqi police.
However, he only served out three months of a scheduled six-month appointment.
12/03/2004 15:19 GMT - AFP