Top White House officials declined to back Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge for the job of heading up President Bush's new Department of Homeland Security, Newsweek reports in its current issue.
Top White House aides cited reasons why Ridge might not seek the position. "If Congress doesn't give the department broad powers, I don't think Tom Ridge would want to do it," says Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr.
Bush's plan unveiled last week had its roots in White House exasperation with Ridge's inability to fundamentally reshape the bureaucracy on his own. In March, Card tells Newsweek, he "took a couple of looks inside of what Tom Ridge was doing" -- without informing Ridge. "I drilled down to see the work product," Card said, "and discovered that the bureaucracy was resisting change at every turn."
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This month in Access Control
- Opening Up About Door Closers
- An Enterprise Approach
- The Framework For Open Systems
- On A Higher Plane
- More from April's issue
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