Bush Rejects Card as Homeland Security Chief
By Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 18, 2002; 10:46 AM
President Bush has rejected a proposal from several key advisers who urged him to name White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security if Congress approves the administration's plan, administration officials said.
Card, who has signaled he does not plan to remain indefinitely in his current job, has taken a prominent role in promoting the department since Bush announced the idea this month. Card appeared on two network Sunday shows and conducted a large briefing for committee staff directors on Capitol Hill.
Administration and Capitol Hill sources said Tom Ridge, Bush's director of homeland security, does not want to undergo confirmation hearings and is trying to decide whether to stay in the White House as Bush's homeland security adviser, a position that would remain under the president's proposal.
So several advisers recommended that Bush choose Card. One prominent adviser said Card "is an expert in instilling a culture in a bureaucracy, and has the president's total trust." Another Bush source said Card "has a velvet-fist management style: He lays down the law but is approachable by everyone."
A senior administration official said that when the idea was brought to Bush, he said, "No way." The official said that when Card, 55, leaves the administration, it will be to earn retirement money in the private sector. The official said Bush "hopes to have Andy in the car with him in January, 2009," when a second Bush term would end. Other White House officials expect Card to leave much sooner.
A possible complication in recruiting a secretary for the new department was revealed by a senior administration official, who said most of the department might be located outside the Washington area for security reasons.
The official said a new Homeland Security building could be located in Maryland or Virginia, well beyond the Beltway. "We think it's something that at least should be discussed," the official said. "We should be thinking differently about this department."
Among other possibilities to head the new department is Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), a cardiologist and author of a book on bioterrorism. Lawmakers said they would love to land former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani for the job, but White House officials said his self-promoting style would not fit the Bush culture.
Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage also is being discussed within the White House as a possible secretary of homeland security, sources said.
Senior White House officials said they did not know Bush's view on who might be the homeland security secretary or adviser. "They don't even talk about this among themselves, partly because they know it wouldn't stay a secret," said a person close to Bush's inner circle.
Card's departure is one of many possible changes at the White House after November's elections. White Houses traditionally have heavy turnover at midterm, and that is the point when the Bush administration will begin formal preparations for the 2004 reelection race.
"It's a natural exit point, and several high-profile aides are expected to take it," a White House official said. "If you stay much into 2003, you're in till January 2005."
Bush's White House has been unusually stable, both because many of his aides are longtime loyalists from Texas and because the Sept. 11 attacks caused at least a few to postpone planned departures. No Cabinet member left in the first 15 months, and the only senior White House staff member to leave was John J. DiIulio Jr., director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Karen Hughes, Bush's counselor, announced in April that she will resign this summer to return to Texas.
Among the possible new faces in the Bush administration is Rep. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Bush's closest ally on Capitol Hill, who could succeed Card or Commerce Secretary Donald L. Evans.
Mark McKinnon, a campaign consultant who remains close to the White House, said he expects some shuffling but no wholesale changes after November. He said discussion of specifics is idle speculation. "In this White House, people don't speculate about decisions or announcements the president might make," he said. "It's sort of the code."
© 2002 The Washington Post Company
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