Press Conference Exposes Administration's Political Agenda on Terrorism

Attorney General John Ashcroft's national press conference yesterday did little to increase public confidence in the Bush administration's handling of terrorism. Why go through the trouble of holding a national press conference to warn Americans of impending terrorist attacks and not raise the national alert status to reflect the seriousness of the warnings? Given the president's sagging job approval numbers and troubles in Iraq, it is difficult not to see politics playing a bigger role than security in yesterday's announcement.

• It is disingenuous to alarm Americans with vague terrorist warnings but not raise the national alert status to orange. Americans understand that al Qaeda and other terrorist groups want to attack the U.S. and are willing to listen to government leaders to help prevent another tragedy. But, the color-coded warning system put in place after 9/11 must be used appropriately or it should be discarded as a meaningless indicator that does nothing to protect the country.
• The Bush administration has failed to properly coordinate government agencies to handle the domestic terrorist threat. The Department of Homeland Security was created to coordinate the federal government's response to threats against the United States and communicate threat information to the American people. But two and a half years after 9/11, interagency competition continues to trump interagency coordination. Ashcroft yesterday peddled the politics of fear to Americans while Secretary Tom Ridge told people to enjoy their Memorial Day weekend.
• Significant gaps in homeland security must be addressed. The attorney general yesterday asked for cooperation from state and local law enforcement, yet the Bush administration has significantly cut federal support to local police. Significant funding increases are also needed to secure our towns, borders and ports and to improve our emergency response readiness and the capacity of our health infrastructure to handle catastrophic terrorist attacks.

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