ONE LAMENTABLE result of this month's elections is that the stalemate has been broken over the creation of a monstrous Department of Homeland Security. This cosmetic response to the myriad failures that made the nation vulnerable on Sept. 11, 2001, offers no assurance that Americans will be safer. Instead, it poses new dangers.

Most alarming is that the version of the legislation passed by the House on Wednesday -- with the Senate apparently soon to follow -- is a 500-page, 11th-hour rewrite few lawmakers have read and perhaps none fully understands. New snakes slither out daily, but doubtless many will remain hidden until long after the measure is enacted into law.

How can a bill that purports to protect the homeland be so scary? Let us count some ways:

First, the basic concept is flawed. Combining 22 separate departments and agencies with nearly 200,000 employees into one super agency is a recipe for bureaucratic chaos that will distract workers from their security duties rather than sharpen their focus. New bosses, new locations, new personnel rules, new rivalries, new turf battles. These are the issues that will most concern workers in the years just ahead. How helpful is that?

The recent squabble between the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, neither of which is to be included in the new department, demonstrates there is little chance that blending separate agencies to eliminate overlap and clarify control can be anything but a bloody task.

This proposal came originally from Democrats and was opposed by President Bush. But the pressure on Congress to take some action that promised Americans greater security was so great that Mr. Bush decided to board the train before it ran over him.

Second, the White House refused to accept a Senate provision that would have created an independent commission to investigate government failures that preceded the Sept. 11 attacks, squelching what looked like the best chance of authorizing such an inquiry. Unless another opportunity emerges soon, there may never be a detailed look at what went wrong and why.

Third, union rights and other worker protections will be stripped from the employees of the new department because the president says he needs new flexibility to hire, fire and move people around. No convincing national security rationale has been offered to justify this broad power grab.

Fourth, citizen access to information about risks or threats related to critical infrastructure is sharply curbed, and criminal penalties will be imposed on workers who violate these strictures. This is a sweeping and unjustified infringement on press freedoms.

Fifth, the Defense Department is working on a plan to collect financial and other personal information on all Americans in the name of homeland security. The new legislation doesn't permit this outrageous privacy violation -- but it doesn't prohibit it, either.

There's more, but critics are cowed.

Mr. Bush snatched the homeland security issue from Senate Democrats, then clubbed them with it in a campaign that challenged their patriotism. A cynical play that matches this bill.