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New Name to Replace Kissinger's to Head Up 9/11 Commission
Aired December 17, 2002 - 06:24 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: There is a new name to replace Henry Kissinger's to head up the White House 9/11 commission. It's a name we haven't heard in a while. We want to get the Beltway Buzz from our Washington producer, Paul Courson -- good morning, Paul.
PAUL COURSON, WASHINGTON MORNING PRODUCER: It's the president of Drew U. Do you know where that is?
COSTELLO: No.
COURSON: Drew University is in Madison, New Jersey. You might also know the fellow as Tom Kean.
COSTELLO: Ah!
COURSON: He's the former governor of New Jersey, from 1982 to 1990. He now takes his place as the head of the White House 9/11 panel, succeeding Henry Kissinger, who stepped down to avoid any conflicts of interest in his wide ranging work. He's a consultant to both corporations and to international entities.
Tom Kean, on the other hand, says he's going to remain as president of Drew University. He also is on some boards of directors for corporations and he says none of this is a conflict of interest and he looks forward to building on the work that's already been done.
COSTELLO: Yes, hopefully now we hope he doesn't step down before he takes his position.
COURSON: Well, you know what's interesting, the White House panel that is coming out, and we need to make a distinction here between the two, builds on the one that Capitol Hill has already conducted. The Joint Intelligence Committee, Carol, had this 9/11 probe and it was limited in scope. It didn't look at, for example, transportation issues or immigration issues, and he, Kean is already saying that he hopes to build on that, to expand this probe to see what could have been done to prevent the 9/11 attacks.
COSTELLO: Got you.
There is also a big town hall meeting with Tom Ridge. Tell us about that.
COURSON: Tom Ridge, the homeland security director, today gets together with a lot of federal employees to try to help them understand what will happen in the new scheme of things as this Homeland Security Department takes form. Folks like the Coast Guard come under this new Homeland Security Department and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, yesterday you heard that Joe Allbaugh is stepping down. The person who takes his place will have possibly a new mission and they'll have a realignment of the various government agencies that could have to do with defending the homeland.
COSTELLO: All right, good enough.
Paul Courson live from Washington.
Many thanks to you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Commission>
Aired December 17, 2002 - 06:24 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: There is a new name to replace Henry Kissinger's to head up the White House 9/11 commission. It's a name we haven't heard in a while. We want to get the Beltway Buzz from our Washington producer, Paul Courson -- good morning, Paul.
PAUL COURSON, WASHINGTON MORNING PRODUCER: It's the president of Drew U. Do you know where that is?
COSTELLO: No.
COURSON: Drew University is in Madison, New Jersey. You might also know the fellow as Tom Kean.
COSTELLO: Ah!
COURSON: He's the former governor of New Jersey, from 1982 to 1990. He now takes his place as the head of the White House 9/11 panel, succeeding Henry Kissinger, who stepped down to avoid any conflicts of interest in his wide ranging work. He's a consultant to both corporations and to international entities.
Tom Kean, on the other hand, says he's going to remain as president of Drew University. He also is on some boards of directors for corporations and he says none of this is a conflict of interest and he looks forward to building on the work that's already been done.
COSTELLO: Yes, hopefully now we hope he doesn't step down before he takes his position.
COURSON: Well, you know what's interesting, the White House panel that is coming out, and we need to make a distinction here between the two, builds on the one that Capitol Hill has already conducted. The Joint Intelligence Committee, Carol, had this 9/11 probe and it was limited in scope. It didn't look at, for example, transportation issues or immigration issues, and he, Kean is already saying that he hopes to build on that, to expand this probe to see what could have been done to prevent the 9/11 attacks.
COSTELLO: Got you.
There is also a big town hall meeting with Tom Ridge. Tell us about that.
COURSON: Tom Ridge, the homeland security director, today gets together with a lot of federal employees to try to help them understand what will happen in the new scheme of things as this Homeland Security Department takes form. Folks like the Coast Guard come under this new Homeland Security Department and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, yesterday you heard that Joe Allbaugh is stepping down. The person who takes his place will have possibly a new mission and they'll have a realignment of the various government agencies that could have to do with defending the homeland.
COSTELLO: All right, good enough.
Paul Courson live from Washington.
Many thanks to you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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