Allegations Delay Vote On FDA Nominee
Anonymous allegations against Lester M. Crawford, President Bush's choice to head the Food and Drug Administration, prompted the Senate Health Committee to postpone a vote on his nomination yesterday and request an internal FDA investigation.
The panel had scheduled a session to consider Bush's promotion of Crawford from acting to permanent head of the FDA, but the committee's chairman, Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), and the ranking Democrat, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (Mass.), announced the postponement.
 
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Later, in response to questions, committee spokesman Craig Orfield added that Enzi had requested that the FDA's Office of Internal Affairs open an investigation after an FDA employee anonymously delivered the allegations to the committee. Enzi forwarded them to the White House, Orfield said, but he declined to provide any details of the allegations. Enzi hopes "the investigation will be conducted expeditiously," Orfield said.
Asked about the development, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said, "The president believes Dr. Crawford is a highly qualified nominee, and we hope the committee will move forward quickly."
Homeland Security Chief Addresses Intelligence
The Department of Homeland Security must be "full partners at the table" in the U.S. intelligence community, Secretary Michael Chertoff told lawmakers yesterday amid questions over whether his analysts are left out of the information flow.
Chertoff, testifying before the House Homeland Security Committee, also noted that he is considering changes to the color-coded national threat advisory system as part of an ongoing review of his department.
The review is focusing, in part, on intelligence operations as a top priority. Chertoff said Homeland Security itself must do better in contributing its own data.
"At the same time . . . we need to be full partners at the table, because we have a need for intelligence and a use for intelligence that no other department of the government has," he said. Experts believe Homeland Security is often cut out of the loop because of turf battles within the intelligence community.
As to any changes to the color-coded threat system that was fodder for jokes, Chertoff said: "We have to figure out whether we've come to a point where we need to make some adjustments with it. Now, we have a little more experience with what's useful and what's not useful."
Panel Postpones Vote On Bolton as U.N. Envoy
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday delayed until next week a vote on John R. Bolton's nomination to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Committee Democrats asked for more time to question Bolton in writing, said Andy Fisher, spokesman for the committee chairman, Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.). They strongly oppose the nomination. Putting off a vote that had been tentatively planned for today gives Democrats more time to try persuading a moderate Republican, Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee (R.I.), to defect to their side.
Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) urged Lugar in a letter to convene another hearing and summon three U.S. officials with firsthand knowledge of Bolton's dealings with intelligence analysts. They are Thomas Fingar, assistant secretary of state for intelligence; Neil E. Silver, director of the strategic proliferation office; and Stuart A. Cohen, a former acting chief of the National Intelligence Council.
-- From News Services
