Tightening the reins?
Here’s one indication that the White House has decided that it may be tolerating too much “creative tension” among the key bureaucracies when it comes to Iraq. From Knight-Ridder: President Bush has tapped national security adviser Condoleezza Rice to chair a new Iraq Stabilization Group amid increasing Democratic criticism of administration fumbling in postwar Iraq, ...
Here's one indication that the White House has decided that it may be tolerating too much "creative tension" among the key bureaucracies when it comes to Iraq. From Knight-Ridder: President Bush has tapped national security adviser Condoleezza Rice to chair a new Iraq Stabilization Group amid increasing Democratic criticism of administration fumbling in postwar Iraq, congressional questioning of the president's proposed $87 billion Iraq spending package and the chaotic postwar situation in Iraq's effect on his approval ratings. "Some might see this as rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic," said one senior administration official, who agreed to speak only on the condition of anonymity, "But it is a serious attempt to make the National Security Council more functional and remove some of the elements that have made it dysfunctional." Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, with the backing of Vice President Dick Cheney, has long run roughshod over the NSC, the State Department, the CIA and other government agencies, and at times even the wishes of the president himself. "With this new system you can control and dampen some of that and make it much more apparent when someone is meddling with policy," the official said, adding, "That way the White House can run policy instead of this unholy alliance."
Here’s one indication that the White House has decided that it may be tolerating too much “creative tension” among the key bureaucracies when it comes to Iraq. From Knight-Ridder: President Bush has tapped national security adviser Condoleezza Rice to chair a new Iraq Stabilization Group amid increasing Democratic criticism of administration fumbling in postwar Iraq, congressional questioning of the president’s proposed $87 billion Iraq spending package and the chaotic postwar situation in Iraq’s effect on his approval ratings. “Some might see this as rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic,” said one senior administration official, who agreed to speak only on the condition of anonymity, “But it is a serious attempt to make the National Security Council more functional and remove some of the elements that have made it dysfunctional.” Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, with the backing of Vice President Dick Cheney, has long run roughshod over the NSC, the State Department, the CIA and other government agencies, and at times even the wishes of the president himself. “With this new system you can control and dampen some of that and make it much more apparent when someone is meddling with policy,” the official said, adding, “That way the White House can run policy instead of this unholy alliance.”
Here’s a link to the Chicago Tribune story as well. One sign that bureaucratic politics have spun out of control — when cabinet-level officials talk about “unholy alliances.” UPDATE: Another sign is the following from the Washington Post:
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said yesterday that he was not told in advance about a reorganization of the Iraq reconstruction, which he heads. He said he still does not know the reason for the shake-up. Rumsfeld said in an interview with the Financial Times and three European news organizations that he did not learn of the new Iraq Stabilization Group until he received a classified memo about it from national security adviser Condoleezza Rice on Thursday. Rumsfeld was asked several times why the changes were necessary. “I think you have to ask Condi that question,” he said, according to a transcript posted on the Web site of the Financial Times.
Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner
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