Extreme makeover, congressional style
Grade-A Beef
Call it a diplomatic game of rock, paper, scissors. In one story making the rounds in Washington, the new leadership at the State Department is so miffed at Japan for banning imports of U.S. beef (over fears of mad cow disease) that Japanese diplomats told friends that Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick had briefly banned them from entering Foggy Bottom. Zoellick's boss, Condoleezza Rice , persuaded President Bush to call Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on March 9 and demand that he reopen Japan's markets to U.S. beef. The next day, Koizumi dropped a not-so-subtle hint to Bush when he publicly suggested that Japan should explore diversifying its central-bank reserves away from the dollar. As the already weak greenback plunged further, Bush aides got the message and dialed back the rhetoric. On Rice's recent visit to Tokyo, everyone was all smiles.
Anyone home?
So many key staffers have fled the State Department's once high-profile Office of Counterterrorism that folks are wondering who's left to mind the store. Among those deserting ship: longtime spokesman Joe Reap , followed by the top dog himself, Cofer Black . Now Black's deputy, William Pope, has left, leaving in charge their No. 3, Karen Aguilar . How bad are things? Her website bio misspells coordinator ("Office of the Coodinator"). "It's like the D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles when I call over there," complains one counterterrorism pro.
Churn, churn, churn
Everyone expected turnover among Republican staff on the House Intelligence Committee when former chairman Porter Goss left to run the CIA. But the Democratic staff has also been in such upheaval that only one current Democratic staffer has been there for more than three months. Congressional sources say that the panel's top Dem, Jane Harman, is a difficult boss. Others retort that the new staffers are highly qualified.
Causing a ruckus
Remember the antiglobalization protesters? Well, some of them have a new target: the U.S. Army. The Ruckus Society says it will run training camps this summer to help activists (nonviolently) disrupt the Pentagon's recruiting drives, which are already struggling to reach their goals.
Dressed for success
We'll have to see how the family-values crowd reacts to a new play about an East German transvestite opening within shouting distance of the White House. David Richenthal , who is producing the Tony-winning I Am My Own Wife , doesn't seem too worried. He made sure to send invites to a few Bush bigwigs. Of course, it may help that his coproducer is Anthony Marshall, a former CIA operative and U.S. ambassador and son of socialite Brooke Astor . We'll be watching for one of the 40-some characters portrayed in the one-man show: ex- U.S. News Berlin Bureau Chief John Marks .
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With Kenneth T. Walsh, Terence Samuel, Dan Gilgoff, David E. Kaplan and Vicky Hallett
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