Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff made the rounds on Capitol Hill this week, giving key Senate and House decision makers a sneak preview of the sweeping changes to his department that he plans to unveil at a public announcement Wednesday.

Tuesday, Chertoff briefed several House members, including the Speaker, House Homeland Security appropriators and the Homeland Security Committee.

On July 11, Chertoff briefed Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., as well as Homeland Security overseers and appropriators, on his new agenda for the department, which he has said will be guided by “risk analysis,” or apportioning homeland security resources to those locations and assets at greatest risk of a terrorist attack.

Others off the Hill will get a preview of the plan, also: on Wednesday, Deputy Secretary Michael Jackson is scheduled to brief several think tanks involved in homeland security, including the Heritage Foundation and the Center for the Study of the Presidency. Also preceding the secretary’s 1 p.m. public announcement, DHS has planned a teleconference to brief state and local homeland security officials on the plan.

Most DHS employees, though, will hear the news with everyone else. A DHS internal announcement said that staff “may view [Chertoff’s speech] live through the DHS intranet.”

Chertoff’s speech is the result of a prolonged review that he said he was undertaking in March. Said to examine every aspect of the department’s operations, the review was completed by May 31, according to DHS.

Many of the expected changes have long been rumored — and desired — by officials on and off Capitol Hill, such as a new office dedicated to developing policy, a departmentwide intelligence operation, and a greater centralization of operations, sources say. Chertoff is also rumored to be planning a few surprises, such as returning the Federal Air Marshal Service to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), from which it was removed in November 2003.

Overall, three directorates — Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection (IAIP), Border and Transportation Security (BTS), and Emergency Preparedness & Response (EP&R) — will be most radically altered by the plan, according to the sources, who declined to be named because Chertoff’s plan was not public knowledge.

The intelligence, or “IA,” side of IAIP will become an intelligence operation reporting directly to the front office, the sources said. Several knowledgeable individuals within and outside the department described Chertoff’s plan to CQ Homeland Security. DHS has not released details of the plan.

A new directorate of preparedness will be created that will comprise the “IP” side of IAIP and the Office for Domestic Preparedness, from the Office of State and Local Coordination, as well as portions of EP&R. IAIP will no longer exist.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which was folded into EP&R when DHS was created, will be removed from that directorate and largely restored to its former state, according to the sources, some of whom were briefed by Chertoff. It will report directly to Chertoff and Jackson.

The position of BTS undersecretary, once held by former Rep. Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark. (1997-2001), will be eliminated, according to the sources; the directorate itself will cease to exist. Its various subagencies, including TSA, U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) and the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), will report directly to the front office.

Several sources also said that the Federal Air Marshal Service, which was moved under ICE when it left TSA, will be transferred back.

Chertoff will create several new positions and offices, sources said, including:

• A new assistant secretary for cybersecurity, who will serve within the new preparedness directorate;

• A new policy office, reporting directly to Chertoff and Jackson;

• A centralized operations office to oversee the day-to-day functioning of the department.

Several of the changes, particularly the dissolution or creation of offices and senior positions, require congressional approval. One Capitol Hill source said Chertoff had promised the department would deliver proposed legislation to Congress within a few days of his announcement that would facilitate his proposed changes.

Chertoff’s tour of the Hill included a morning briefing with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chairwoman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, followed by sit-downs with Sens. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., and Robert C. Byrd, D-W. Va., the Senate’s top Homeland Security appropriators. Chertoff also met with Senate Majority Leader Frist, on July 11. Calls to the office of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., were not returned.

DHS Deputy Secretary Jackson briefed Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, D-Conn., ranking member on Collins’ committee.

On Tuesday, Chertoff met individually with Reps. Harold Rogers, R-Ky., and Martin Olav Sabo, D-Minn., chairman and ranking member of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee. In the afternoon, Chertoff met with the members of the House Homeland Security Committee. Chertoff also met Tuesday afternoon with House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., although he did not meet with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., her office confirmed.

Hearings on Chertoff’s plan to overhaul DHS are scheduled for Thursday in both the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the House Homeland Security Committee.

Although Chertoff once promised to release the results of his “top-to-bottom” review by mid-June, that was later pushed to mid-July. The department said that extensive internal review and consideration of the review’s findings by Chertoff and Jackson delayed a public announcement.

Timothy Starks and Sean Madigan contributed to this report. Justin Rood can be reached at jrood@cq.com.