Word: townsendized
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...White House, anxious to head off an outside investigation like the 9/11 commission, is adding staff for its own internal probe, led by Homeland Security Adviser Frances Fragos Townsend, and plans to issue a "Lessons Learned" report in coming months. Democrats could get handed more than the whitewash many are expecting. According to Administration officials, the White House plans to use the investigation to win support for changes in government architecture that might otherwise be resisted by Congress or federal employees unions. "We view this as an opportunity to make real improvements," says a senior Administration official. A huge target...
...lines of the 9/11 Commission and have rejected the principle of an internal inquiry into Katrina failures, went even further: "There is a huge conflict of interest here," said Rebecca Kirszner, communications director for Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. "As the President's homeland security adviser, Townsend certainly was part of the Administration's response to Katrina...
...Townsend, according to a 2003 Executive Order issued in the course of establishing the Department of Homeland Security, is "the official primarily responsible for advising and assisting the President in the coordination of domestic incident management activities of all departments and agencies in the event of a terrorist threat, and during and in the aftermath of terrorist attacks, major disasters, or other emergencies, within the United States...
...Despite the domestic upheaval caused by Katrina, Townsend left town on September 9 - the day then-FEMA director Michael Brown was relieved of his duties supervsing the hurricane response - for a previously-scheduled five-day trip for consultations with intelligence chiefs in such countries as Morocco and Afghanistan, as well as with Saudi Arabia's new ruler, King Abdullah bin-Abdulaziz...
...Critics have questioned whether it was appropriate for her to have made that trip as the administration scrambled to respond to Katrina. Perino had previously told TIME that President Bush had wanted Townsend to remain focused on vigilance against possible terrorist attack. "From the beginning it was important that we also stay focused on our national security and so, as her title is both homeland security and counter-terrorism [adviser], this trip, which was already scheduled way in advance, went forward," Perino said. Perino said Townsend had delegated Katrina duties to Deputy Assistant to the President for Homeland Security...