WASHINGTON, June 12 (UPI) -- Well-placed administration officials told United Press International that President George W. Bush intends to name a chief of the new Homeland Security Department when it has taken final shape this summer, but the delay has left a question mark about the future of Tom Ridge, the White House official who helped plan the agency.
When Bush submitted his plan for the 170,000-employee new agency on June 7, he said that though he wasn't naming Ridge to head the department as many had expected, the former Pennsylvania governor would be the point man on gaining support for the agency. And Ridge Wednesday was the key figure briefing Congress and acting as a sort of master-of ceremonies as Bush met with his new Homeland Security Council.
But in Washington any void is immediately filled with innuendo and rumor if not fact, and these are the ones coming from sources on Capitol Hill and among key constituency groups who did not want to be quoted by name:
Ridge, one lobbyist for a government group said, failed to galvanize support for homeland security for nearly seven months until Bush had to take the situation in hand and appoint a team of administration officials to craft the new agency plan in April. Bush appointed White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card and Office of Management and Budget Chief Mitch Daniels, who this source said are really credited within the administration with getting the department idea off the ground.
Ridge's defenders claim -- and many on Capitol Hill agree -- that Ridge was given an impossible job trying to coordinate homeland defense without the clout of an agency and a budget, and that Bush himself harmed Ridge by waiting eight months before agreeing that a new agency had to be formed.
"He was dangling out there at the end of line," said the lobbyist, "with this lame excuse that he had an office next to the president." Ridge had claimed for many months that his close relationship with Bush gave him all the clout he needed.
Several reports by alleged insiders quote Ridge himself as saying that he would like to return to private life and concentrate on his family. These same sources claim that the candidate list for Secretary of Homeland Security is a lot longer than Ridge. One name often mentioned is former New York Mayor and Sept. 11 hero Rudy Giuliani. Another name mentioned is former New Hampshire Sen. Warren Rudman. Rudman was co-author of a major report in early 2001 that recommended that the government take emergency steps to protect against terror attacks in the U.S. and form a special government agency to do so.
Another name being mentioned is Andrew Card. Card evidenced restlessness with this White House job in an Esquire Magazine story. Though White House press secretary Ari Fleischer claimed the story was fanciful, Card's disquiet at how disorganized the White House would be now that Bush confidant Karen Hughes was returning to Texas, has been accepted in Washington as a rare glimpse inside Bush's very tight administration. A congressional aide said Bush's way of handling it might be to push Card outside the inner circle and ask Ridge to be his chief of staff.
Joe Allbaugh, perhaps the president's most trusted adviser, who with Karen Hughes and Karl Rove were his key aides in the presidential campaign, is also mentioned for heading the new agency. Allbaugh was appointed to head the Federal Emergency Management Agency by Bush and has received high marks for his job after the September terrorist attacks.
A top administration source said he thought it was unlikely that Giuliani would leave a lucrative private business opportunity to return to run a government agency, and another source said all the names on the list are "pure speculation."
