Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Dateline D.C. - Sunday, April 29, 2001

Clinton holdovers at State Department, NSC undermine Bush foreign policy

WASHINGTON - Nearly 100 days into the Republican administration of President George W. Bush, many decisions are being made and far too much advice to the president is being given - all too much of it crafted by women and men who for eight years carried out the worst of Bill Clinton's plans while the Democrats were in the White House.

Of course, George Bush knows what is needed; and naturally, he is very much aware of the broad policies that have to be implemented to undo the Clinton disasters. However, as president he has an uncountable number of details to deal with and must rely on his appointees to write the script from which he will read. These are duties often supervised by those holding sub-Cabinet posts. But, many of these posts are still unfilled. The departments of Defense, State, Treasury, Health and Human Services, Labor and Veterans Affairs all have a raft of Clinton people industriously busy at their desks and pretending to be loyal to the new administration.

Only the top sub-Cabinet positions require Senate confirmation, but twice as many have to be filled at the senior executive level. More than a quarter of those, already nominated by the president, still have to go through the ``advise and consent of the Senate'' process. Naturally, the FBI is blamed for much of the delay. Any presidential nominee, even one who will never ever hope to see a classified or secret document, must fill out FBI Form No. 86.

Obviously, not everyone in the federal service believes that computers are here to stay, because the all-encompassing Form 86 must be completed by hand or typewriter. It also requires, in minute detail, all the facts, and just the facts, of one's past life including every address at which one has lived and the present whereabouts of any and every ex-spouse! Then the material on a Form 86 has to be checked for accuracy by one or more FBI agents. Next, the material must be correlated with everything that the Senate's investigators collected on the nominee. At that stage, a formal Senate hearing can be scheduled.

The FBI claims that it takes at least 40 days for a Full Field Investigation (FFI - initials that have, we hope, a totally different meaning than that given to them by medical doctors). Without a smile, FBI officials say that the only way to accelerate the process is for nominees to have no life, no history and no interests.

Bringing his military experience to bear on the subject, Secretary of State Colin Powell used a well-tried system, often disastrous to the Republican Party in the past. He promoted from within the State Department and he was able to persuade National Security Adviser Dr. Condoleezza Rice that she likewise should fill posts on the National Security Council with ``the gentlemen in striped pants.''

There were immediate benefits. The ``vetting'' process was reduced to a minimum because so much was already known about the candidates. Many job slots were quickly filled. Secretary Powell has excellent relationships with senior NSC staffers and a bipartisan foreign policy was, de facto, in place. The only single item to frighten us is that for the past eight years, these seasoned, patriotic gentlemen and ladies were serving Bill Clinton, Madeleine Halfbright, Tony Lake and Morton Halperin in advancing the radical agenda of the Institute for Policy Studies.

There was no political litmus test. The European socialists, Latin American Castroites, Russian bullyboys and the thugs from China still have their friends and supporters in George Bush's State Department and NSC. These crafty opportunists know how to trim their sails to suit new policy-makers and befuddle those who truly believe in freedom.

Perhaps Colin Powell will get the message if a cartoon were published depicting him dressed in the ``style'' of the portly Madeleine Halfbright. Why not? Since arriving at State, Powell has said nothing and done nothing that Clinton's secretary of state would not have done or said in similar circumstances.

Low key is the kindest comment that can be used about the State Department's response to China's outrage against our reconnaissance aircraft. Not a word has been said by the State Department about economic reprisals, curtailment of student visas or a fraction of the efforts that are undertaken against Fidel Castro, for example. Even worse, State kowtows to Beijing to deny Taiwan the ability to defend itself with Aegis missile destroyers. The only stern words (and appropriate ones, too) are coming from the president and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, despite the Foggy Bottom people wringing their hands over such ``troubling'' language.

As the China crisis developed, Secretary Powell found time to meet with Paul McCartney, no longer a Beatle but now a leader of the campaign initiated by the late Princess Di against the use of landmines.

Perhaps the State Department briefers forgot to remind the secretary about this Beatle's support in the not-so-distant past of anti-American causes. Perhaps they also forgot to tell the secretary that the campaign was directed against American research into developing ``safe mines'' that self-deactivate after a preset period. In addition, perhaps the secretary has put far behind him his own military knowledge of how properly constructed mine fields, as in his very own Desert War, add to the security of a position, and can be safely and securely cleared when dangers have passed.

But times, they are a-changing! Soon the State Department will have a new image - more aggressive, more powerful (in fact most powerful of the departments of power) and far eclipsing those ``boisterous guys'' at the Pentagon. Colin Powell has reinforcements in the person of Charlotte Beers, a new corporate, elegant boss lady hired to handle his and the department's image. The two C's met when both were serving on the Board of Gulfstream Aerospace and there was a loud third ``C'' as they clicked.

Ms. Beers brings Madison Avenue to the State Department. She comes from being chief executive officer of Ogilvey and Mather, one of New York's pre-eminent advertising agencies, and she formerly was chairman of J. Walter Thompson. Just let us hope that Colin will live up to the image of him that she will create.

-- Anonymous, April 29, 2001