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American Morning
Tom Ridge on Capitol Hill
Aired June 20, 2002 - 09:30 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: At this hour, the head of homeland security is on Capitol Hill. He is there to testify before two congressional panels. Lawmakers want to pick Tom Ridge's brain on the president's proposal to elevate his post and make it a cabinet level position. For more on that story, let's go live to our congressional correspondent Kate Snow, who is on Capitol Hill.
Kate, good morning.
KATE SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Daryn.
Tom Ridge is up here for the first time, officially testifying before a congressional committee. You remember, there was this big flap over whether he would come to Capitol Hill and testify. They were calling on him to come up here. The White House had said no, because he's not a cabinet-level secretary, he didn't have to come.
Well, now he is here today to present a Bush plan to create a new cabinet-level department to deal with homeland security. It is the most massive government change reorganization in decades.
Issues that we expect him to cover today include concerns about how intelligence is going to be handled by this new Homeland Security Department. For example, should the FBI and the CIA be more closely linked to department. How much will this new department cost? Republicans, particularly conservatives, have some concerns about that. It's a big deal to them. They don't want to spend too much money. So far, the White House has assured them that melding together all these existing pieces of government isn't going to cost any more than it cost right now to run the government.
They've also said, that, look, we will spend what it takes to protect the homeland. And finally, who will be secretary? That's the biggest parlor game going in Washington right now, a lot of second guessing, people talking about this just rumor mill stuff. Tom Ridge is not necessarily a sure thing. The White House has been sending some mixed signals about that. They're now saying, let's get the department past first, and then we'll figure who will be at the top.
The other guessing has to do with Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, of course. Some have said he may be too big of a character. He may want too much of the spotlight. Joe Allbaugh is the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. His name has been tossed arm. And Senator Bill Frist over there on the right of the screen. We talked to him, and he said to CNN, "Nobody talked to me or asked me if I want the job." When I asked him would you take it if President Bush came to you and personally said, please, be the new Homeland Security Department secretary. He said, "Well, I wouldn't necessarily turn it down. I wouldn't rule it out."
And finally, one other person who's name has been tossed around is Andy Card, the White House chief of staff. Sources close to him tell our John King that he's not real eager to leave the White House. If he did, he would probably go into the private sector. But again, if the president asked him, he might just consider it -- Daryn.
KAGAN: So Congress has a lot of questions about this potential new cabinet. I'm sure the public does, too. What about these hearings, Kate? Are they going to be open on the public? Or are they going to be closed like some other key hearing have been on Capitol Hill?
SNOW: Well, these hearings with Tom Ridge are open today. We have two sets of hearings. This morning, he's appearing before a Senate panel. And then later this afternoon, Tom Ridge goes before a House panel, very open, very public.
On the other hand, you've got the Intelligence Committee, which is a joint House/Senate panel. They've been meeting for last two days, and you remember, they've been meeting behind closed doors. They were supposed to open their doors next week. That's the panel looking into 9/11, Daryn. And we're now understanding that they may not do that. They may need some more time behind closed doors before they're ready to go public. The last two days they've spent questioning three of the top intelligence officials here in the United States, asking about a lapses, including that NSA intercepted messages, that were intercepted on September 10th and not translated for two days.
Daryn, one lawmaker said they've got so many questions in the Intelligence Committee right now, that they don't want to go public just yet, because he said, we'd be flying by the seat of our pants -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Don't really want to do that right now.
Kate Snow on Capitol Hill. Kate, thank very much. More on those hearings and what Tom Ridge has to say to Congress later today.
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