February 11, 2009 9:21 PM
Fighting Terror And Turf
In her latest Political Points commentary, CBS News Senior Political Editor Dotty Lynch takes a look at the politics of the new agency assigned to protect the Homeland.
A few days after the attack, former Speaker Newt Gingrich sat in the CBS green room for the first time in many years. He was at our Washington bureau to do an interview on ideas for dealing with terrorism put forth by a commission on which he served after leaving office.
The U.S. Commission on National Security grew out of a conversation in 1998 between President Clinton and Gingrich and was headed by former Senators Gary Hart and Warren Rudman. Gingrich chucked and said, “When we suggested a National Homeland Security Agency it was a highly controversial recommendation. Amazingly today it’s getting a serious look.”
So serious that it happened a few days later. President Bush proposed the new agency in his address to Congress and has named Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge to run it. The Hart-Rudman Commission report has gone from a dusty shelf relic to an action plan in a week. The only major controversy at a hearing to launch it was whether this should be a separate cabinet-level agency or a White House appendage.
“We must disenthrall ourselves. As the times are new, we must think anew,” the commission report began quoting Abraham Lincoln. The three-volume report predicted that, “Attacks against American citizens on American soil, perhaps causing heavy casualties, are likely over the next 25 years.” It added, “U.S. preeminence makes the American homeland more appealing as a target while America’s openness and freedoms make it more vulnerable.”
The idea of a terrorism czar has been bouncing around for three or four years. In 1998 the Clinton administration named Dick Clark as the National Coordinator for Counter-Terrorism. Without much visibility he convened an interagency task force that included officials from Defense, the intelligence services and government agencies dealing with critical infrastructure and bio-medical issues.
In 1999, the Pentagon asked for authority to appoint a single military leader who could respond to terrorist attacks. According to Assistant Secretary of Defense John Hamre, that request was turned down and a separate Joint Task Force on Civil Support was formed because of concern over the military becoming involved in domestic affairs.
In May, 2001 President Bush asked his friend and former campaign manager Joe Allbaugh, the head of FEMA, to also coordinate counter-terrorism efforts through an Office of Emergency Preparedness to “bring clarity” to all the federal programs dealing with “consequence management” related to weapons of mass destruction.
But, in a signal of the problems of bringing together agencies rife with turf wars, Attorney General John Ashcoft said such an agency would result in “no change to the Justice Department’s role” and that the Justice Department would still be “in charge.”
Naming the popular and media savvy Republican Governor of Pennsylvania and giving him Cabinet level status may help him in the daunting task of coordinating 46 agencies with some role in combating domestic and international terrorism.
President Bush said today that he hoped Ridge would be the “individual I want to pick up the phone—when the balloon goes up—and call and know that we’ve got it all tied together and know what the states are doing, and the cities are going to do and what needs to be geared up from the standpoint of our health agencies.” The new office is also supposed to “knit together” the CIA, FBI, National Guard and state police.
The appointment of Ridge, a Vietnam Vet, is also interesting because of his close ties to Secretary of State Colin Powell. Powell tried to get Ridge appointed as Secretary of Defense but he lost out to Cheney mentor, Donald Rumsfeld.
Conservatives have viewed Ridge suspiciously since his days as a Congressman when he tried to cap funds for Star Wars, backed a nuclear freeze and opposed funds for the Nicaraguan Contras.
In the current struggle to formulate a military strategy, Powell, long known for his advocacy of exit strategies, has been having trouble selling his entrance strategy. He believes strongly in a military salvo as only a first step followed by intelligence work and financial and political sanctions. He is a coalition builder and says that there isn’t much support in the Islamic world or in Europe for wider military action.
Rumsfeld deputy, Paul Wolfowitz and his conservative allies (including Jeanne Kirkpatrick and William Bennett), however, are eager to finish America’s last war and go after Iraq as well. Wolfowitz said last week that the U.S. goal was to “end states who support terrorism.” Ridge is likely to be a Powell ally inside the White House.
National tragedy and unity aside, there will be almost as many battles fought inside Washington as beyond our borders. The current climate has shocked Washington into action. But it will take not only the words of Lincoln but his leadership and determination, to overcome the petty rivalries of bureaucrats to effect real security while preserving personal freedom.
© MMI, CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved
A few days after the attack, former Speaker Newt Gingrich sat in the CBS green room for the first time in many years. He was at our Washington bureau to do an interview on ideas for dealing with terrorism put forth by a commission on which he served after leaving office.
The U.S. Commission on National Security grew out of a conversation in 1998 between President Clinton and Gingrich and was headed by former Senators Gary Hart and Warren Rudman. Gingrich chucked and said, “When we suggested a National Homeland Security Agency it was a highly controversial recommendation. Amazingly today it’s getting a serious look.”
So serious that it happened a few days later. President Bush proposed the new agency in his address to Congress and has named Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge to run it. The Hart-Rudman Commission report has gone from a dusty shelf relic to an action plan in a week. The only major controversy at a hearing to launch it was whether this should be a separate cabinet-level agency or a White House appendage.
“We must disenthrall ourselves. As the times are new, we must think anew,” the commission report began quoting Abraham Lincoln. The three-volume report predicted that, “Attacks against American citizens on American soil, perhaps causing heavy casualties, are likely over the next 25 years.” It added, “U.S. preeminence makes the American homeland more appealing as a target while America’s openness and freedoms make it more vulnerable.”
The idea of a terrorism czar has been bouncing around for three or four years. In 1998 the Clinton administration named Dick Clark as the National Coordinator for Counter-Terrorism. Without much visibility he convened an interagency task force that included officials from Defense, the intelligence services and government agencies dealing with critical infrastructure and bio-medical issues.
In 1999, the Pentagon asked for authority to appoint a single military leader who could respond to terrorist attacks. According to Assistant Secretary of Defense John Hamre, that request was turned down and a separate Joint Task Force on Civil Support was formed because of concern over the military becoming involved in domestic affairs.
In May, 2001 President Bush asked his friend and former campaign manager Joe Allbaugh, the head of FEMA, to also coordinate counter-terrorism efforts through an Office of Emergency Preparedness to “bring clarity” to all the federal programs dealing with “consequence management” related to weapons of mass destruction.
But, in a signal of the problems of bringing together agencies rife with turf wars, Attorney General John Ashcoft said such an agency would result in “no change to the Justice Department’s role” and that the Justice Department would still be “in charge.”
Naming the popular and media savvy Republican Governor of Pennsylvania and giving him Cabinet level status may help him in the daunting task of coordinating 46 agencies with some role in combating domestic and international terrorism.
President Bush said today that he hoped Ridge would be the “individual I want to pick up the phone—when the balloon goes up—and call and know that we’ve got it all tied together and know what the states are doing, and the cities are going to do and what needs to be geared up from the standpoint of our health agencies.” The new office is also supposed to “knit together” the CIA, FBI, National Guard and state police.
The appointment of Ridge, a Vietnam Vet, is also interesting because of his close ties to Secretary of State Colin Powell. Powell tried to get Ridge appointed as Secretary of Defense but he lost out to Cheney mentor, Donald Rumsfeld.
Conservatives have viewed Ridge suspiciously since his days as a Congressman when he tried to cap funds for Star Wars, backed a nuclear freeze and opposed funds for the Nicaraguan Contras.
In the current struggle to formulate a military strategy, Powell, long known for his advocacy of exit strategies, has been having trouble selling his entrance strategy. He believes strongly in a military salvo as only a first step followed by intelligence work and financial and political sanctions. He is a coalition builder and says that there isn’t much support in the Islamic world or in Europe for wider military action.
Rumsfeld deputy, Paul Wolfowitz and his conservative allies (including Jeanne Kirkpatrick and William Bennett), however, are eager to finish America’s last war and go after Iraq as well. Wolfowitz said last week that the U.S. goal was to “end states who support terrorism.” Ridge is likely to be a Powell ally inside the White House.
National tragedy and unity aside, there will be almost as many battles fought inside Washington as beyond our borders. The current climate has shocked Washington into action. But it will take not only the words of Lincoln but his leadership and determination, to overcome the petty rivalries of bureaucrats to effect real security while preserving personal freedom.
© MMI, CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved
Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved.
