As Pennsylvania’s Gov. Ridge sets about his task of organizing “homeland defense,” he should keep an eye open for the kind of leadership he will need among his senior staff in the years ahead. As he meets with his colleagues from the statehouses and with the mayors of the country’s largest cities, he should be asking himself each time: Is this man or woman a Giuliani? Would they have what it takes in an emergency? Could they rally a metropolis and take command of chaos?
Every American should be looking around their hometowns and cities and assessing the leadership they find there. Ask yourself: “Who is our Giuliani?” Many local governments have been allowed to become sideshows of American government, carnivals of small ambitions and huge egos. State and local politics have long since abandoned any idea that character and leadership are issues for the electorate. Suddenly these qualities are seen to matter a great deal. Every contest for authority must focus on the candidates’ capacity for courage and decisive action in the midst of chaos. “If the horrible thing happened here, who would I want in charge,” is a new and deeply serious question. Even before the next round of elections, all people have to look at their local governments and ask the question above: Who is your Giuliani? Who would take charge in your community? Do you even know?
Gov. Ridge will find, I think, that a lot of his job will be the task of inspiring local and state governments to prepare for nightmares they’d rather not dream, and fund undertakings which are nearly invisible and thus carry little in the way of political payoff. Ridge will be asking the products of hyper-partisanship to put aside partisanship on these issues.
Gov. Ridge is a big and charismatic man, and he has much going for him in his mission. Still, he will need some help, and I hope he considers that the country’s finest servants are those who have served in the military and done so under fire. If homeland defense is to be meaningful, it must be undertaken by men and women skilled in the realities of defense planning and preparedness. Ridge is himself a combat veteran. He should look for others as he staffs his new agency.
As a Deputy Secretary for Homeland Defense, or the Home Office as the British call it, Ridge should inquire about the availability of James Webb, former Secretary of the Navy and Marine officer who has received the Navy Cross, the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts. Webb is now a very successful author and screenwriter, but when I interviewed him for my radio program last week, the timber of command was still obvious in his voice, and his charisma, like Ridge’s, would be very useful to the urgent tasks ahead.
So too would the talents of Pete Wilson. Wilson’s eight-year tenure as governor of the Golden State was marked by natural disasters as well as by economic challenge. As a former Marine he also has the sort of chain-of-command experience that would be useful in helping other governments structure their new plans for coping. Wilson, like Webb, is used to giving orders. Both could be expected to work well under Ridge, as both would understand the urgency of the moment and neither has political ambitions.
Although nothing has been announced, it would seem natural for the Office of Homeland Defense to organize along state lines, so that each of the 50 state governors would have a senior federal counterpart in the preparedness business. Those of us who see and appreciate the genius of the federal system would never argue for an agency that would diminish the authority of the governors and their legislative bodies, but it would be helpful to those governors if each state had a lead contact with the federal planning process. In a crisis, there would be an obvious contact point with knowledge-in-depth of the state in need.
It was a great blessing to have an obvious leader in the city of New York who could provide a rallying point for the city even as the president rallied the country. In the first few hours after a disaster, there needs to be such people, giving orders and marshaling resources, and that person can’t be in Washington, D.C. Homeland defense means visible leadership in every state and major city – individuals who can point the way and push for serious planning and resource allocation.
Ten days after the attack, I asked a group of public officials what the disaster plans were for their community. There are lots of plans and lots of diagrams and flow charts – all of them leading to people with very little, if any, public image, and very little experience in calming and inspiring the public in a crisis. There are some fine governors in the land, and some great mayors, but a sober assessment of these groups underscores that most communities would be largely leaderless if awful things were to happen to them. All American communities would eventually sort it out and draw together, but precious hours or days would be lost if plans are not laid, or if those plans put the decision-making burden on the wrong people. Ridge has a unique opportunity to put in place a team of people throughout the states and major cities whose job it will be to prepare and to wait – to urge that resources be marshaled and planning be undertaken. It is not Ridge’s job to replace or commandeer state and local government, but to strengthen states and cities with resources and with people capable of analyzing worst-case scenarios and responding to them should they ever arise.
A year from now, it should be easy for every American to answer this question: “If a disaster happens, whom do you look to for orders and direction?” To the extent that each of us can name names, Gov. Ridge will have succeeded.
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