A 'Unified Command Structure' in Search of a Leader

Relax, America: Your general security baseline is elevated because of a systems-based approach to critical triangulation points.

These kinds of statements -- all voiced at Heritage yesterday -- make the wiry Chertoff a big target for those building a case that the administration is lax about homeland security. The firefighters' president, Harold Schaitberger, began yesterday's conference with a speech complaining that "the administration and OMB have recommended drastic cuts" in first-responder programs.

Biden asked the crowd, almost all men, whether the administration was protecting Americans. "Well folks, the winds of Katrina and the shoddiness of the Dubai port deal . . . have answered the question," he said.

Chertoff, suffering from a cold, cleared his throat 10 times as he spoke to the firefighters and 20 more when talking at Heritage. He offered a series of explanations for the Katrina problems: "catastrophe of the century . . . a disaster is always an ugly thing . . . Mother Nature can be awfully tough to deal with."

He blended that with his technocratic explanations of DHS ("internal integration into a unified command structure") and attempts at high rhetoric that fell short. Pointing to photos of the Sept. 11, 2001, wreckage, Chertoff said: "You are really part of the war on terror, as well as the war against all hazards."

War Against All Hazards: WAAH?

Chertoff, pursued by reporters, was whisked from the building and into a waiting Chevy Suburban by a knot of aides and bodyguards -- and away to the relative safety of Heritage. There, after lunch, former attorney general Ed Meese introduced him by praising his "dynamic leadership."

Chertoff displayed that dynamism by giving the audience an earful about the need to "integrate all of your organs of power" to achieve "the totality of effort." A few of his listeners allowed their eyes to close.

Chertoff made a beeline for the exit after 30 minutes. "Because of the secretary's schedule, he's not able to take questions," Meese tried to explain. In the war against all hazards, a Q&A session probably would not elevate the general baseline of Chertoff's job security.