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CNN Live Today

Politics Comes Into Play Strengthening Security

Aired June 07, 2002 - 14:26   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Well the big news out of Washington last night was President Bush's speech which creates a Homeland Security Department out of bits and pieces of existing departments and agencies. It's going to cost a huge amount of political capital.

You think you've heard this story, but you really haven't heard it until Candy Crowley has given you her spin. And so we've invited her along to give us her insight.

Candy, good to see you.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you, Daryn.

KAGAN: It's one thing to say he's going to do this or to have the federal government do it, but we are talking about a huge restructuring, the biggest since World War II, as I understand it, and that means politics in Washington. So what are the obstacles to this actually happening?

CROWLEY: Well look, there are fewer obstacles than there are sort of political implications, because even if you set aside political motivation for anyone, there's always political implications to anything that you produce in Washington.

Certainly in so far as this plan is concerned, the biggest obstacles are going to be the bureaucracies. Both the bureaucracies where some of these agencies are now housed who don't want to give up that power as well as the bureaucracies on Capitol Hill where, of course, you have, I think I last saw, 88 committees that in some way or another have jurisdiction over some of these agencies that would all be combined.

KAGAN: And then bottom line budgets, we're looking at figures. I saw $37.5 billion for a budget, that's going to come from someone's pocket, and 170,000 employees. People are just not going to give that up that easily.

CROWLEY: Well I tell you, this is where the president -- something the president tried to address last night because it's really something that touches to his base and that is conservatives who don't like bureaucracies, who don't like more government. And in so far as this is seen as more government, more money, that's really a problem with the president's base. Now I will say that what he said last night and what administration officials continue to say today is listen, this is about taking the money that's being given to those agencies and taking the manpower that's already there and combining it under one roof. So we're not talking about a new bureaucracy. We'll see as it pans out. We don't have all the details of this, but that certainly is their current -- their current argument towards this, oh my gosh, here's another new bureaucracy.

KAGAN: There was a lot of support for what President Bush had to say, but there are those critics and cynics out there who say, you know what, he's just doing this to head off the criticism that was already headed his way.

CROWLEY: Well look, again, you have the question of political motivation versus political implication. What has made George Bush so popular, it's been his conduct in the war on terrorism. What have we seen in the past month or so and that is a steady chip, chipping away at why weren't we safe on the home front?

George Bush is riding a tiger here and the tiger is the war on terrorism. And so long as he's on top of it, his poll numbers are such. If he falls off, it could turn around and bite him. And what people saw coming and what you saw with the testimony yesterday from Mueller and the questions to him, the testimony from Agent Rowley, were all of these well why didn't they know it and why didn't they connect the dots, and why didn't they do all of this? So, yes, there were some chips that were beginning to fall toward the White House.

Now what does this do? This now throws the ball back into Congress' court, because now what you have is the president saying here's my plan for making us safer on the home front so Congress, we need you to pass this. I don't know that the American public will have a lot of patience for congressman so and so of the sub -- chairman of the subcommittee over section such and such to say well wait a minute, let's not do this. So it now sort of puts the focus back on Congress and says OK, let's pass this. And we should note that there's been a lot of bipartisan support for this even before the president proposed it.

KAGAN: And so by putting the spotlight back on Congress that helps the president, but where do you think he remains vulnerable?

CROWLEY: Well I think he remains vulnerable as we talked -- I mean listen to -- there's one thing he said last night that caught my attention that I think was directly related to where he's most vulnerable. Let's listen to it for a second.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The reason to create this department is not to create the size of government, but to increase its focus and effectiveness. The staff of this new department will be largely drawn from the agencies we are combining. By ending duplication and overlap, we will spend less on overhead and more on protecting America. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: So what you have here is really a direct message to the conservatives where I suspect you will get a lot of the flack. We've already heard from Senator Joe Lieberman who said look, I support this plan and a lot of Democrats, and has been sort of a hallmark of this administration that is they get a lot of trouble from their own people. And they may here as well in so far as conservatives see this as yet another bureaucracy. And I think what you heard last night was his first volley towards, you know, the conservatives saying look, this isn't a new bureaucracy.

KAGAN: And explain one last thing to me, Candy, you -- so Bush decides to make this a Cabinet position, but I can only imagine the phone call to Tom Ridge, we've got news and bad news. This is going to be a Cabinet position, but we're not going to say that you're going to get the position. Why not just name Tom Ridge as his man when he announces that it becomes a Cabinet position?

CROWLEY: Well I mean they may well. I don't know. I haven't, you know, talked to anybody today about on that specific subject and they may well put Tom Ridge out there.

This is in fact going to be a really interesting position because this is kind of where the buck really stops. I mean you've been seeing the heat that the FBI chief Mueller has gotten. And this is a guy that took over sort of the week before 9/11 and yet he's taken so much heat. This is not going to be an easy position.

And the administration also wants to keep somebody within the White House that does talk to the president and give him their candid opinion. So they're taking about well, we still want a, you know, homeland security guy around the president that doesn't have to go testify on Capitol Hill, that can give honest assessments, but we also want this Cabinet position. So I suspect Ridge will get one of those potions and probably the Cabinet, at least everybody's talking that way.

But, as you say, he hasn't announce it yet. And maybe this is a way -- you know again, we always sort of look for how they're spinning this. I mean maybe this a way to a) put out one bit of news today and then you put out another bit of news tomorrow or Monday, and you know, you take up a couple of days with the story and it certainly keeps negative headlines out of the -- out of the news.

KAGAN: And then keeps people like you busy. Keeps you off the streets and honestly employed.

CROWLEY: Exactly. Exactly. Yes.

KAGAN: Candy Crowley, thanks for stopping by. I always appreciate it.

CROWLEY: Sure.

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