The most complete roster is the Treasury Department's SDGT–the Specially Designated Global Terrorist list–issued by presidential executive order two weeks after 9/11 and continually updated. This list now includes 220 individuals and organizations whose assets are to be seized, ranging from bin Laden himself to more obscure outfits like the Al-Hamati Sweets Bakeries in Yemen. Check it out at http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/sanctions/
terrorism.html

Another addition since 9/11 is the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorist list, at http://www.fbi.gov/mostwant/terrorists/fugitives.htm. On the list are 21 accused terrorists, including much of al Qaeda's top leadership. Only one suspect–Osama bin Laden–makes it onto the Bureau's older, more famous top ten list, at http://www.fbi.gov/mostwant/topten/fugitives/fugitives.htm. Then there's the new list of the five guys the FBI is seeking: http://www.fbi.gov/terrorinfo/122002si.htm

The granddaddy of the terror lists is the State Department's Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations, which is updated annually. Here you'll find 35 groups of evil doers, including such lesser-known lights as the Philippine Communist Party and the now-largely extinct Abu Nidal Organization. Find it at http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/fs/2002/12389.htm. If you need more info, State's annual Patterns of Global Terrorism gives a comprehensive overview and chronology of international terrorists, at http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/pgtrpt/2001.

Then there's the State Department's TEL–Terrorist Exclusion List–designed to keep bad guys out of the country. This directory, apparently derived from the lists above, features 48 groups and is at http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/fs/2002/15222.htm.

If you're keen on doing a little bounty hunting, there are big rewards for tracking down those who threaten our way of life. The State Department is offering up to $25 million for information about key terrorists–check it out at http://www.rewardsforjustice.net. While you're at it, you can test your observation skills and see how good of a witness you might be.

Finally, the Treasury Department is dangling up to $5 million for folks who help "stop the flow of blood money" by informing on terrorist financing. This one's at http://www.ustreas.gov/rewards/
index.html. Happy hunting.

12/20/02
Alec Baldwin's twin towers
While New York is focused this week on several plans to memorialize the September 11 attacks on the twin towers, we've got new details on an alternative plan pushed by actor-activist Alec Baldwin, who wants to put a new Yankee Stadium on ground zero. His plans include a stadium, offices, retail stores, restaurants, and a museum. He explains in a release provided to Whispers that the museum would be "dedicated to ensuring that all visitors are treated to the fullest and most accurate picture of what happened on September 11th."
• Read it all here.

12/18/02
Lott's not the only one
Allies of embattled Sen. Trent Lott are going on the offensive in their bid to save the Mississippi Republican's majority leader post by suggesting that he's being held to a different standard by the White House and the media than other lawmakers tainted by segregationist behavior. The effort goes like this: If Washington can forgive Sen. Robert Byrd, West Virginia Democrat, for using the "n" word, as well as overlook House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt's appearance at a white-rights group and Sen. Bill Frist's long membership in an all-white golf club, then why not Lott's comments supporting Sen. Strom Thurmond's 1948 presidential campaign, during which Thurmond pushed segregation?

With Washington continuing to debate Lott's future, Whispers was steered to old news stories about Gephardt and Frist. That effort was not being directed by Lott, his staff, or congressional Republicans, we're told. One article was from The Hotline, dated March 16, 1994, detailing Frist's membership in the all-white Belle Meade Country Club in the 1980s and 1990s. He quit in 1993 as he prepared for his Senate bid in 1994. It was faxed to Whispers with a cover letter that read: "Senator Bill Frist Member of All-White Club Late 1980s-1993." Frist is the front-runner for the majority leader's post if Lott resigns.

Also in the package was a story about a Gephardt speech to an offshoot of the white-rights group Council of Conservative Citizens. The point of the effort, we were told, is this: They were forgiven for deeds worse than Lott's comments endorsing Thurmond's presidential bid, comments he has subsequently and repeatedly apologized for. "We are going to make it through this," said a Lott ally.

12/17/02
The Lott buzz: Gone in days
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, under pressure from colleagues and the White House to give up his post instead of face a January vote of confidence, may give in as soon as this weekend, predict key Senate Republican aides. In fact, they're already discussing Lott's post-majority-leader career, suggesting that he might be handed the chairmanship of a key committee for "doing the right thing," says one aide.

As his comments at a birthday party for Sen. Strom Thurmond and his subsequent apologies continued to ripple through Washington yesterday, fellow Republican senators began adopting President Bush's position of nonsupport for Lott. That, say aides, is a clear signal that he has lost the confidence of his caucus. "All he has to do," says one, "is read the first sentence in the New York Times lead today to see it's over." That story begins: "Republicans with close ties to the Bush administration said today that Sen. Trent Lott had no chance of remaining majority leader and that the White House wanted him out."

For his part, Lott is standing firm. Allies say he was bolstered when civil rights leader and Georgia congressman John Lewis accepted Lott's apology. In fact, some black political leaders suggested that Lott's experience would make him sensitive and sympathetic to African-American causes. But other GOP officials worried about a wounded Lott being beholden to his critics, to which a Lott associate told Whispers: "Senator Lott is beholden to his GOP senators and the state of Mississippi."

12/12/02
Budget crisis laughs
For many White House staffers, the tight internal budget President Bush has ordered is quite depressing. Imagine being a top presidential adviser and having to pay for your own business cards. That's happening. And while most grump, Jim Towey, director of the Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives, has turned it into his opening shtick at meetings. At one recent confab, he told the crowd, "You probably expect some state-of-the-art presentation." Well, he explained, PowerPoint isn't included in his budget. But he did offer a "multimedia" show. As his audience laughed, he held up a small photo of the prez and said, "I work for him. And he flies on a helicopter."

12/5/02
Not all things considered
Shawn Arnell has tried for a few weeks to get an interview with Bill Clinton. Arnell is sports director at KREB-AM 1190 in Fayetteville, Ark., where the former prez once lived and taught at the University of Arkansas. Arnell, knowing Clinton is a big of the Razorbacks, wanted to talk to Clinton about the playoff this weekend in Atlanta between Arkansas and Georgia. But the rejections keep coming for Arnell. First, he tells our Suzi Parker, the Clintonites said the boss had too many other requests filling his time while he's in Little Rock this week. Then Arnell thought it was because Clinton was too big for a small-town station. No, came the reaction. Finally, he learned the reason: The big-ideas former president doesn't want to talk sports, even though as president he often did and attended Razorback games. Instead, he just wants to discuss global peace and the AIDS crisis in Africa.

12/3/02
A hazy grade for the antidrug campaign
There's a new internal report due out Wednesday that questions the effectiveness of the Bush administration's antidrug media campaign. But like an acid high's purple haze, all isn't as it seems. Whispers learns that the Office of National Drug Control Policy found its national youth antidrug media campaign to be memorable for parents and kids alike. But, ONDCP found, exposure to the ads also gets kids interested in experimenting with marijuana. That would generally be the kiss of death for any ad program, right? There's the catch: The ads reviewed were the old ones that new ONDCP Director John Walters trashed. Since the review period ended–last June–new and harder-hitting ads have been on TV and radio, and Walters thinks they'll have a better chance at turning kids off to drugs. In fact, says an administration official, the new review essentially confirms what Walters said when he came into office: The old TV campaign pussyfooted around the issue of drug use and was unfocused. The new campaign targets just two groups: parents and older teens. The ads to parents tell them to get involved in their kids' lives. Those to the teens show the negative consequences of doing drugs, like smelling bad or being stupid or alone. Like yuck. Look for the ads to continue through June 2003.

http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/
Visit the White House drug policy office

http://www.mediacampaign.org/mg/television.html
See the antidrug TV ads

12/3/02
GOP pours it on in Louisiana
While the polls are mixed on the chances Republican challenger Suzie Terrell has of defeating Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu in Saturday's runoff, the White House tells Whispers that victory is theirs if the candidate doesn't screw up and if there's enough money for last-minute advertising. Which is why the GOP is sending out an all-points-bulletin to regular donors that begs for hurried contributions. "While I hate to ask," says a letter from Virginia Republican Sen. George Allen, "can I count on you again?" The runoff has forced Allen into action early as the incoming chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the group that raises cash to elect GOP candidates. But he's eager to do it, say allies, because polling already underway for the 2004 elections indicates that with enough money and the sustained popularity of President Bush, the GOP lead in the Senate could grow to eight. "Opportunities like this," he says in his fundraising letter, "are few and far between–and we must act now."

Click here to read Allen's letter.

http://landrieu.senate.gov/newsite/index2.cfm
Sen. Mary Landrieu's site

http://www.suzieterrell.com/
Suzie Terrell's site

http://www.nrsc.org
National Republican Senatorial Committee site

http://www.dscc.org/welcome/
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee

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