DarrylS

Interesting read, guess nuts from this family tree spend a lot of time together.


http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/fea...03.levine.html

Philip Perry and the politics of chemical security
In March 2003, when the world’s attention was focused on U.S. soldiers heading to Baghdad, twelve senior officials in the Bush administration gathered around a long oak conference table in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, part of the White House complex. They were meeting to put the final touches on a proposed legislative package that would address what was perhaps the most dangerous vulnerability the country faced after 9/11: unprotected chemical plants close to densely populated areas.

The package was the product of nearly a year’s worth of work led by Tom Ridge, head of the Department of Homeland Security (previously head of the White House Office of Homeland Security), and Christine Todd Whitman, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Both had been governors of northeastern states (Ridge of Pennsylvania and Whitman of New Jersey) with a large number of chemical plants, and this only increased their concern about leaving such facilities unprotected. EPA staff felt such fears even more acutely: agency data showed that at least 700 sites across the country could potentially kill or injure 100,000 or more people if attacked.

The basic elements of the legislation were simple: the EPA would get authority to regulate the security of chemical sites, and, as a first step, plants would submit plans for lowering their risks. One man present at the meeting, Bob Bostock, who was homeland security adviser to the Environmental Protection Agency, was relieved to see that something was finally being done. “We knew that these facilities had large enough quantities of dangerous chemicals to do significant harm to populations in these areas,” he says.

No one present was prepared for what came next: the late arrival of an unexpected visitor, Philip Perry, general counsel of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Perry, a tall, balding man who bears a slight resemblance to Ari Fleischer without the glasses, was brusque and to the point. The Bush administration was not going to support granting regulatory authority over chemical security to the EPA. “If you send up this legislation,” he told the gathering, “it will be dead on arrival on the Hill.”

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"Being the best doesn't mean you always win. It just means you win more than anyone else".. tweet from Kurt Warner to Tom Brady.

patsfan13

What the heck does the EPA know about security?

Why not the military in conjunction with Homeland Security (the military knows a lot about securing a base, same issue with a Chem plant.

This sounds like the EPA was asserting bureaucratic turf.

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"Some guys play in all-star games, some guys don't. I don't know who picks all those all-star teams. In all honesty, I don't know who picks the combine, for that matter," Belichick said. "How does (Miami-Ohio offensive lineman Brandon) Brooks not get invited to the combine? How did Vollmer not get invited to the combine? I don't know. We can't really worry about that. We just have to try to evaluate them the best we can."

DarrylS

Is that the point? looks like the Dept. of Homeland Security was working in concert with the EPA and then Phillip Perry walked in and squashed the whole deal. It does not matter who, it matters that something is being done. If you read the whole article this whole matter stinks, and this gap in security which was trying to be closed has not been for the sake of partisan politics.

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"Being the best doesn't mean you always win. It just means you win more than anyone else".. tweet from Kurt Warner to Tom Brady.

patsfan13

Sounds like bureaucratic infighting between the 2 agencies over whose turf the chem plants were. so they comprimised. That is BS IMO, the sole determination is who has the expertise to do the job.

Again what the heck does the EPA know about securing a location? Why isn't the military or FBI involved?

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"Some guys play in all-star games, some guys don't. I don't know who picks all those all-star teams. In all honesty, I don't know who picks the combine, for that matter," Belichick said. "How does (Miami-Ohio offensive lineman Brandon) Brooks not get invited to the combine? How did Vollmer not get invited to the combine? I don't know. We can't really worry about that. We just have to try to evaluate them the best we can."

DarrylS

Good point, but bottom line nothing was done, as Perry stopped it from happening. Maybe the question should be why wasn't something done on an interim basis, instead of partisan politics dictating the outcome??

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"Being the best doesn't mean you always win. It just means you win more than anyone else".. tweet from Kurt Warner to Tom Brady.

patsfan13

Because the interim basis solution would likely become a permanent solution, didn't you work as a civil servant? How hard is it to get one agency to give up tourf to another no matter what the justification?

I don't see this as a partisan issue. Both agencies were being run by pubbies. So I don't see partisan politics playing just plain old lust for power by the bureaucrats to retain their power (administrations come and go the bureauracy is the permanent force).

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"Some guys play in all-star games, some guys don't. I don't know who picks all those all-star teams. In all honesty, I don't know who picks the combine, for that matter," Belichick said. "How does (Miami-Ohio offensive lineman Brandon) Brooks not get invited to the combine? How did Vollmer not get invited to the combine? I don't know. We can't really worry about that. We just have to try to evaluate them the best we can."

Harry Boy

F-ck Everbody,
I would now like to see the Democrats take everything over, I would like to see a Democrat go to the white house in 2008,. then I will sit back on my little Island in Maine and watch the Muslim Savages "BLOW UP" every big city in America, while all the Malls are blowing up Uncle Teddy, Aunt Nancy and this f-cking big blob of ***** Murtha will still be trying to get Bush Killed and while the bombs are going off Pant Suit Hillary will be shreaking and screaming about Free Health Care for all the people that are having their arms and legs blown off.

What a wonderful f-cking time it will will will be, welcome Mr & Mrs Headhunter we love you, God Is Great.

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Harry Boy (Genius)

In The Absence Of Law And Order Society Will Surely Destroy Itself