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Utmost secrecy { June 7 2002 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9149-2002Jun6.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9149-2002Jun6.html
Plan Was Formed in Utmost Secrecy
Final Proposal Came From 4 Top Bush Aides; Most Others Out of Loop
By Dana Milbank
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 7, 2002; Page A01
The proposal was designed largely by just four of President Bush's most trusted senior aides, meeting for 10 days in a bunker-style, secure conference room beneath the White House.
Those sessions, in late April and early May, were the beginning of a seven-week deliberative process secret even by the standards of a Bush administration known for its discipline and control. By the time of yesterday morning's meeting of Bush's 20 most senior aides, the majority did not know the details of the plan to create a new cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security.
Even Cabinet secretaries were kept in the dark about the plan until informed Wednesday -- and senior officials in the departments affected by the realignment learned about it from news reports yesterday morning.
Congressional leaders, too, were unaware. Hundreds of lawmakers attending the White House barbecue Wednesday night had no idea what was unfolding. The only two believed to have been briefed, House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), were told during the picnic. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.), author of legislation much like the White House's proposal, got a call from Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge Wednesday night asking about details of his bill -- but Ridge didn't give a hint of what was coming in the morning.
White House officials say it was a coincidence that Bush's announcement of a new cabinet-level Homeland Security Department came on the anniversary of D-Day. But it's no accident that the decision and announcement resembled a military operation in its precision and stealth as they assembled a proposal for what Bush called the most significant reordering of the federal government since 1947.
White House officials figured that the element of surprise would give their proposal a better chance of success. Early leaks, they said, would have allowed opponents, particularly committee chairmen who stand to lose authority under the proposal, to gain the initiative. "This will not be easy for Congress, but it will be easier with a big head of steam,"White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said.
Veterans of the Clinton administration expressed grudging admiration. Could this have been kept secret in the Clinton White House? "Quite honestly? Unlikely," said David Leavy, spokesman for the National Security Council under Clinton. "They have a very small loop in terms of top-line information, and that allows them to control news flow in a way you have to admire."
The potential danger with the Bush administration's approach is that by restricting the number of people involved, it may not obtain the necessary input. Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee issued a statement saying this resulted in "a haphazard plan." Bush aides say they got plenty of input, from Congress and Cabinet agencies -- before officials sat down April 23 to draft a plan.
On that day, White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr., Ridge, White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales and Office of Management and Budget Director Mitchell E. Daniels Jr. convened their working group to create the cabinet-level entity. They relied on a few other top aides, including Card deputies Joseph Hagin and Joshua Bolten.
The meetings continued daily for about 10 days as they refined the proposal's specifics. Card or Ridge kept Bush informed of progress. On May 3, Card described the tentative plan to Bush. To flesh out the details, the group then expanded slightly to include a few officials from Ridge's office and lawyers from Gonzales's office -- though most of those officials knew of only their pieces of the proposal. Hagin served as "the enforcer" during this time. He kept the proceedings limited to "those who truly needed to be involved," as an aide put it, and reminded them, repeatedly, "This is the president's news to make."
Even some of the most senior Bush aides, including counselor Karen P. Hughes, political strategist Karl Rove, Fleischer and speechwriter Michael Gerson, didn't join the process until last week, officials said. As of Wednesday, officials said, fewer than 20 aides had knowledge of the plan.
Bush, briefed on it on his way to Europe aboard Air Force One on May 23, gave his final sign-off last Friday, May 31. At that point, a "roll-out" team -- communications director Dan Bartlett, his deputy, Jim Wilkinson, Fleischer, Cheney aide Mary Matalin; and Ridge spokesmen Susan Neely and Gordon Johndroe -- drafted a minute-by-minute communications plan for their D-Day release, and they assembled a 24-page booklet detailing the plan.
The rollout began Wednesday, with one-on-one meetings with most of the Cabinet members who would lose jurisdiction to the new agency; they had input before April 23 but not during the plan's formulation. Even Joe M. Allbaugh, whose Federal Emergency Management Agency would be entirely taken over by the new office, was not briefed until Wednesday, officials said. Allbaugh is a longtime Bush aide and was manager of his presidential campaign.
Wilkinson said it was a triumph of the White House's no-leak strategy. "The president makes the news and calls the plays -- we just run the plays he calls," he said.
Wednesday night, the proposal booklet was sent to the printers in the basement of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building to be printed overnight, guaranteeing that the word would stay in the White House. To keep reporters off the trail, the White House issued a press release yesterday announcing "NO PUBLIC EVENTS" on Bush's schedule for today and scheduled a 12:15 p.m. briefing by the press secretary that would not, in fact, be held.
The operation began in earnest Thursday morning at the 7:30 senior staff meeting. The vice president and other senior officials began to brief key lawmakers, and at 10 a.m., he walked into the briefing room to give the announcement. After the briefing, the White House sent out a page of talking points, first to allies on Capitol Hill and then to governors and supporters around the country, thousands in all. Bush aides scheduled briefings throughout the day and fanned out to speak on talk radio and cable news shows and online chats, and to regional editorial boards.
Yet, even after the announcement, administration officials were reluctant to say what they knew about the proposal and when. FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III, asked at a hearing if he was consulted, replied: "I believe that I should not be forthcoming."
© 2002 The Washington Post Company
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