The White House initiated the review reluctantly–and only after complaints that Ridge lacked any clout and was rapidly losing influence inside the Beltway. Sources say Ridge himself did not disagree. In recent months Ridge has suffered a series of embarrassments. When he floated a plan in January to combine federal agencies responsible for border security, cabinet secretaries brushed it aside and told Ridge he was moving too quickly. The final plan, forwarded to Bush in March, was much smaller in scope than Ridge wanted. Pressed in a recent meeting by Missouri Sen. Chris Bond to meet with private contractors in the security business, Ridge gave a “what’s the point?” response. “They’ll all be disappointed,” Ridge said. “We don’t have any contracting authority.” Meanwhile, staffers from other federal agencies have rotated in and out of Ridge’s office, creating a perception of disarray–a problem exacerbated by Bush’s insistence that Ridge, as a White House staffer, not testify publicly before Congress. That fight blew up last week when Ridge was a no-show at Sen. Robert Byrd’s appropriations hearing, appearing instead at a staged briefing for a handful of senators and a large contingent of reporters. Byrd publicly rebuked Ridge for trivializing homeland security with “sophomoric political antics.” “Part of the problem is, nobody knows what they’re doing,” said a government consultant about Ridge’s office. “It’s just this black hole.” The one recent public move by Ridge–a color-coded security warning system–was ridiculed by security experts and became instant fodder for a “Saturday Night Live” skit.
The Card-ordered review is being kept quiet because aides fear too much public disclosure could make the restructuring job impossible. Some officials–including aides close to Ridge–have argued that the job won’t work without giving Ridge control of key federal agencies involved with his mission, such as the border police, the U.S. Customs Service and the Coast Guard. But any move to transfer the agencies into a new Ridge-headed department would cause an epic turf war. Creating a new agency would also be politically problematic for Bush, whose conservative base is dedicated to the principle of smaller government.
Still, aides say, because of the importance of the mission, Card wants the problem fixed soon. Ridge is expected to announce his new job description in July as part of his long-awaited “national strategy” to guard against future terror attacks.
