Return-Path: <sentto-279987-3138-1003468918-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com> Delivered-To: fc@all.net Received: from 204.181.12.215 [204.181.12.215] by localhost with POP3 (fetchmail-5.7.4) for fc@localhost (single-drop); Thu, 18 Oct 2001 22:23:10 -0700 (PDT) Received: (qmail 17282 invoked by uid 510); 19 Oct 2001 05:21:35 -0000 Received: from n5.groups.yahoo.com (216.115.96.55) by 204.181.12.215 with SMTP; 19 Oct 2001 05:21:35 -0000 X-eGroups-Return: sentto-279987-3138-1003468918-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com Received: from [10.1.1.223] by n5.groups.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 19 Oct 2001 05:21:59 -0000 X-Sender: fc@red.all.net X-Apparently-To: iwar@onelist.com Received: (EGP: mail-8_0_0_1); 19 Oct 2001 05:21:58 -0000 Received: (qmail 77673 invoked from network); 19 Oct 2001 05:21:58 -0000 Received: from unknown (10.1.10.142) by 10.1.1.223 with QMQP; 19 Oct 2001 05:21:58 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO red.all.net) (65.0.156.78) by mta3 with SMTP; 19 Oct 2001 05:21:57 -0000 Received: (from fc@localhost) by red.all.net (8.11.2/8.11.2) id f9J5Ltr03006 for iwar@onelist.com; Thu, 18 Oct 2001 22:21:55 -0700 Message-Id: <200110190521.f9J5Ltr03006@red.all.net> To: iwar@onelist.com (Information Warfare Mailing List) Organization: I'm not allowed to say X-Mailer: don't even ask X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL3] From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net> X-Yahoo-Profile: fcallnet Mailing-List: list iwar@yahoogroups.com; contact iwar-owner@yahoogroups.com Delivered-To: mailing list iwar@yahoogroups.com Precedence: bulk List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:iwar-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com> Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2001 22:21:54 -0700 (PDT) Reply-To: iwar@yahoogroups.com Subject: [iwar] [fc:Confusing.voices.from.the.administration] Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit DAN K. THOMASSON: Confusing voices from the administration Copyright Scripps Howard News Service Special Report: America Responds Speak out in our America Responds forum Scripps Howard News Service WASHINGTON (October 18, 2001 11:50 a.m. EDT) - We now have the answer to where in the world is Tom Ridge. The former Pennsylvania governor - alive and well in the West Wing of the White House a week after his installation as the new head of homeland security - has surfaced and is speaking to the public. It's about time. One can't help wondering why, with the Fu Manchu image of Osama bin Laden lurking behind nearly every door and beneath every bed in America, George Bush's domestic safety czar did not get out there sooner to try to blow away the dense fog of alternating government warnings and reassurances about everything from biological terrorism to truck bombs. Certainly someone has been needed to speak with one authoritative voice about the increasing anthrax threat and to inject some note of calm to avoid increasing public panic heightened by disclosure that the germ sent to Congress was so refined and tiny it could be spread in the air ducts. The messages thus far have been confusing to say the least. We are told that anthrax is easily treatable while buildings are being shut down, millions of new antibiotics are being ordered and Congress is considering shutting down for the year. Clearly someone needs to have central authority when the FBI misplaces a suspicious envelope from NBC for days. Not to make light of the seriousness of the situation but whoever is behind the Anthrax attack knew what he was doing sending tainted letters to national television outlets. No greater exposure for this bit of nastiness could be assured. Tom Brokaw, crying before an audience of millions about his assistant's skin rash was a gripping sight played over and over. While Ridge said in an interview with Brokaw that he is ready to handle the situation and that germ warfare, especially small pox, will be his first priority, he may need specific legislative authority rather than simple executive order, to cut a path through the bureaucratic briar patch and to trod on the turf jealously guarded by some of his fellow Cabinet members. The situation cries out for central coordination, a clearinghouse of the kind the president said he was creating with the appointment of Ridge. This newest Cabinet member, he said, would be speaking directly for him. There are those who suggest that Ridge would be to domestic affairs what Condoleezza Rice, the head of the National Security Council, is to foreign affairs - a key adviser to the president. Others contend that he needs to be a notch above that, a super Cabinet member with special powers Congress must create. In the meantime, however, everybody else and his third assistant have been doing all the talking. Attorney General John Ashcroft, who may or may not have bought into the Ridge concept in the first place, is vying with the president for prime time coverage, issuing a new statement every whipstitch. The same is true for Tommy Thompson, the secretary of Health and Human Services. Ashcroft particularly seems vulnerable to a loss of power to the homeland security czar. The Justice Department now controls much of the apparatus Americans depend on for their protection, including the FBI. But there has been no real budget authorized for Ridge. Nor has the sweep of his duties been outlined. Can he, for instance, issue orders to the FBI, the CIA, the military, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Secret Service? Those questions have been asked for weeks without a clear response. Being in the West Wing of the White House with proximity to the president sends a signal to those familiar with how Washington works that he has the chief executive's ear, his backing and the authority to speak for him. But if that is the case, the president should be pushing him out front a bit more rapidly than he has. Bush, at the very least, should order his other Cabinet members and agency heads to coordinate their statements through Ridge. It will be reassuring to hear from one calm voice instead of the cacophony of "Chicken Little" shrillness coming at us from every direction. This is not the media's fault. It must, after all, report what is being said officially. That's just part of the job. We just don't need the mixed messages about whether or not the sky is falling and how we can duck if it is. ------------------------ Yahoo! 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This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : 2001-12-31 20:59:56 PST