In The Eye Of The Storm
Why President Bush's closest aide has just become a lightning rod
Condoleezza Rice had the golden touch. Defying stereotypes, prejudices, and humble beginnings, she showed an early talent in everything from ice skating to academics and, eventually, became an expert in the virtually all-male, all-white world of Sovietology. She caught the eye of the foreign-policy establishment and was named a Russia specialist in George Herbert Walker Bush's White House. After a stint as the youngest provost in Stanford University history, she returned to government under George W. Bush as the first African-American woman to serve as a president's national security adviser. With her trademark coiffure, glittering earrings, elegant suits, and graceful manner, she became familiar to Americans as an eloquent defender of the administration.
Now, Condi Rice is under attack as never before. Former National Security Council counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke's allegations that President Bush didn't do enough to fight terrorism prior to 9/11 and unwisely rushed to war with Iraq cast Rice in a particularly unflattering light. Clarke briefed Rice on al Qaeda, he said, in January 2001. Al Qaeda, he said, was at war with America and was planning a major series of attacks against U.S. interests. "As I briefed Rice on al Qaeda," Clarke wrote in his bestselling book, "her facial expression gave me the impression that she had never heard the term before, so I added, `Most people think of it as Usama bin Laden's group, but it's much more than that. It's a network of affiliated terrorist organizations with cells in over 50 countries, including the U.S.' Rice looked skeptical."
In his testimony, Clarke said the administration largely ignored his warnings--and put much of the blame squarely on Rice, who was in charge of the White House office that was supposed to keep track of such things.
Rice fired back almost immediately. Clarke, she said, was "arrogant in the extreme." She had received several memos from Clarke, she said, showing that he believed the White House had taken steps to counter an al Qaeda attack, even though no one knew where or when it might occur. She added that intelligence agencies believed the attack, if it came, would probably be abroad. "Leaving the impression with the American people that they can't trust their government to care about the threats facing them is harmful," Rice told U.S. News. "And I also think it is unfair to public servants" (box, Page 30). A senior U.S. official added: "I didn't think that much of what Dick said was consistent with what he had said before."
Double trouble. Clarke's insider account opened a new window on policymaking at the National Security Council and on Rice's role there--and the view isn't pretty. "This is the most dysfunctional NSC that ever existed," says a senior U.S. official. "But it's not Condi's fault. The person that's made it so dysfunctional is Cheney." For the first time, a vice president is sitting in on meetings with other NSC principals and is constantly involved in the policymaking. A copy of every NSC memo goes to the vice president's staff, so that Cheney can play an active role on issues that interest him.
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